Insulin News and Research

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Insulin is a hormone that is needed to convert glucose, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life. Insulin allows cells to use glucose for fuel and is secreted by beta cells in the islets of Langerhans. The release of insulin from the pancreas is stimulated by increased blood glucose, vagal nerve stimulation, and other factors. Insulin is obtained from various animals and available in a variety of preparations. Commercial insulin preparations differ in a number of ways, including differences in the animal species from which they are obtained; their purity, concentration, and solubility; and the time of onset and duration of their biologic action. An oral hypoglycemic agent is not a form of insulin therapy.

Charting a High-Resolution Roadmap for Regeneration of Pancreatic β Cells

At the Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health (SINH) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), a research group headed by Professor Zhen Shao and the collaborators plotted a high-resolution roadmap for the process of pancreatic β cell regeneration by in vivo transdifferentiation from adult acinar cells with the help of a single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) technology.

31 May 2023

Determining Disease Progression in Patients with Recent-Onset Type 1 Diabetes

A gene expression signature that has the potential to forecast the advance of type 1 diabetes has been determined by scientists from Turku Bioscience Centre and InFLAMES Flagship at the University of Turku in Finland.

30 May 2023

Researchers Advance the Breeding of High-Resistant Starch Rice

Researchers have demonstrated that the loss of function of two paralogous starch biosynthesis genes increases the amount of resistant starch (RS) in cooked rice.

8 May 2023

Researchers Map GCK Gene Variants to Better Diagnose Hereditary Diseases

Researchers at the Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, have now contributed to solving this problem for a specific gene called GCK. The study has just been published in Genome Biology.

4 May 2023

Development of Biocomputing’s Third Approach: Trumpet

Biological computing or biocomputing can revolutionize computers and medicine from early diagnosis and internal cure of diseases to futuristic applications like expanding human memory.

2 May 2023

Designing a Lipid Nanoparticle to Safely Deliver mRNA to the Pancreas

Therapeutics that use mRNA-;like some of the COVID-19 vaccines-;have enormous potential for the prevention and treatment of many diseases.

4 Apr 2023

Two subtypes of cells that produce insulin discovered

A team of scientists from the Van Andel Institute and the Max Planck Institute for Immunobiology and Epigenetics uncovered two unique subtypes of insulin-producing beta cells, or ß cells, each having important traits that could potentially be used to better understand and treat Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.

30 Mar 2023

BetaLife and A*STAR team up to accelerate the development of new cell-based therapy for diabetes

Up-and-coming local biotech startup BetaLife Pte Ltd ("BetaLife") is collaborating with the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) to accelerate the development of next generation cell-based therapy for diabetes.

22 Mar 2023

Keck Medicine of USC launches clinical trial investigating innovative procedure to control Type 2 diabetes

More than 37 million Americans have diabetes, and approximately 90-95% have Type 2 diabetes.

21 Mar 2023

Losing a productive type of beta cell may contribute to the development of diabetes

Multiple types of beta cells produce insulin in the pancreas, helping to balance blood sugar levels. Losing a particularly productive type of beta cell may contribute to the development of diabetes, according to a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

17 Mar 2023

Artificial pancreas helps improve blood sugar control in children with type 1 diabetes

An artificial pancreas originally developed at the University of Virginia Center for Diabetes Technology improves blood sugar control in children ages 2 to 6 with type 1 diabetes, according to a new study.

16 Mar 2023

Study: Oral verapamil improves the pancreas' insulin secretion in children with newly-diagnosed TID

Published in JAMA, a University of Minnesota led study shows that verapamil, a drug commonly used to treat high blood pressure and heart conditions, can have a beneficial effect on the pancreas in children with newly-diagnosed type 1 diabetes (T1D).

27 Feb 2023

Metabolic reactions upon activating Akt2 enzyme revealed

Takeaki Ozawa and his team from the University of Tokyo reveal the metabolic reactions upon activating an enzyme called Akt2.

22 Feb 2023

New insights into genetics of sexually dimorphic fat distribution in humans

Obesity causes many health problems and worsens several chronic illnesses, including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, however, some obese people are more susceptible to complications than others.

17 Feb 2023

Effect of prune supplementation on the gut microbiome of postmenopausal women

New research published in the journal Food & Function indicates that daily prune consumption may improve the gut fecal microbiome of postmenopausal women. The fecal microbiome – the ecosystem of microorganisms found in one's fecal matter – reflects an individual's overall gut health. Results from the study showed notable enrichment in bacteria from the family Lachnospiraceae. This group of bacteria has been associated with an ability to decrease inflammatory markers in the body and help maintain the integrity of the gut barrier.

16 Feb 2023

Versatile molecular toolbox expands the scope of gene regulation

Rice University scientists have enlisted widely used cancer therapy systems to control gene expression in mammalian cells, a feat of synthetic biology that could change how diseases are treated.

15 Feb 2023

Pancreatic islet microexons play key role in islet function and glucose homeostasis

When cells copy DNA to produce RNA transcripts, they include only some chunks of genetic material known as exons and throw out the rest.

10 Feb 2023

The correlation between Type 2 diabetes and human microRNAs

Although it has long been believed that microRNA (miRNA) molecules in pancreatic islets play significant roles in Type 2 diabetes, no specific miRNAs have been definitively linked to the disease in humans.