Developing Stem Cell Therapy for Treating Diabetes

The current therapy for diabetes patients is suboptimal as many endure complications leading to blindness, kidney failure, amputations, heart failure and stroke. We propose to develop unique stem cells engineered from skin or blood cells of patients and coaxed into insulin producing cells, which will be then microencapsulated and grafted under the skin of a patient. This proposal will help support the initial testing in the baboon model of diabetes developed at Texas Biomed.