Researchers from Georgetown University Medical Center have taken a step closer to curing diabetes. They have sperm cells can also be stem cells that then can be converted into insulin-producing cells. Ian Gallicano is a developmental biologist at Georgetown who is responsible for this discovery. He started by isolating a sperm cell and converting it back to its embryonic state. From there the cells can be made into cells from any part of the body. They then used chemicals to bring the cells to mimic beta-islet cells (cells in the pancreas). This is very important; these stem cells can then replace the cells in the pancreas that are infected with diabetes.
However they have be unsuccessful in making these cells produce a substantial amount of insulin. For now the can only sustain a mice’s insulin levels for about a week. To sustain a human the cells would need to produce much more insulin that is 10% of secretion by the pancreas cells.
Because the scientists have not reached their goal, the cure for diabetes, they continue to move toward their goal. These men are also looking for stem cells that would be beneficial to women with diabetes. This is because the cells derived from the testes are only useful to men with the disease. Gallicano does, however think that the trick’s they have already discovered in developing stem cells will lead his team to help women as well.
posted for M. Pascale
Margaret did a fabulous job reviewing this article. I found her review quite enjoyable, and the topic itself is very fascinating. The article was somewhat short by itself, but Margaret nonetheless succeeded in summarizing it and highlighting the main points, and making sure that the end product is not too similar to the actual article. I liked that Margaret explained, step-by-step, the process that Gallicano used to make the discovery that sperm cells can be converted into insulin-producing cells, which furthers scientific research toward finding a cure for diabetes. Although her review was very well-constructed, I thought that Margaret could have used more complex sentence structure at certain points, and should have included more about the relevance of the article topic (the discovery) to the reader in everyday life, and to the field of medicine in general. She spent most of her review recalling what was stated in the article, and did not dedicate any of it to discussing her own opinion about the article and how it could be improved Overall, however, Margaret’s review was concise and effective in conveying its message to the reader. I am interested by the topic of diabetes in general, so to read up on its details was fun for me.
ReplyDeleteMargaret did very well in explaining her article. It was easy to follow the process used to turn sperm cells into any insulin producing cell. I also thought that her contrasting sides of the story added to the quality of her review. She said that they are making progress towards finding a cure for diabetes, but there has also been some setbacks for the newly transformed cells do not produce enough insulin to sustain a human. It was also helpful that she clarified certain terms such as beta-islet cells (pancreas cells). Otherwise I would not have known what she was referring to.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there are a few aspects that Margaret can improve on. I would have liked to know why these new cells do not produce enough insulin for humans. I also would have liked to know what brought on this discovery. What gave scientists the clue that there could be a cure for diabetes?
Overall, I learned that sperm cells could be turned back into their embryonic state. I did not know that was possible let alone that something important could accomplished with it.