Diabetes researchers gain greater control over beta cell production process

A team of researchers led by Harvard University scientists has improved the laboratory process of converting stem cells into insulin-producing beta cells, using biological and physical separation methods to enrich the proportion of beta cells in a sample.

The findings, published in the journal Nature, may be used to improve beta cell transplants in type 1 diabetes patients.

"Until recently, we couldn’t take a sample of our cells and ask what cell types were in there. Now, we can go from nothing to the full list"This research follows the work done by the lab of Harvard professor Douglas Melton’s in 2014 to show for the first time that stem cells could be converted to functional beta cells, taking a step toward giving patients their own source of insulin. In that initial process, beta cells made up 30% of the final cell mixture.