Jayne FosterLens Research Laboratory, Department of Anatomy, University of Sydney Summary of the Awarded Paper
Education This led me to undertake a PhD at the Diabetes Transplant Unit (DTU) located at The Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney Australia. I am just completing the second year of my PhD, which again involves pigs, but in a slightly different context. Summary of the Awarded Paper The DTU is examining various ways of replacing the missing beta cells (insulin-producing cells), which have been destroyed in people with Type 1 Diabetes. My PhD project involves the transplantation of fetal pig islet-like cell clusters (ICCs or insulin-producing cells) as a treatment for type 1diabetes and more specifically the encapsulation of these cells. I presented a small amount of this work earlier in the year at the Cellular Engineering Conference in Sydney where I received first prize for best student presentation. Briefly, encapsulation involves coating the transplanted tissue in a biocompatible membrane that allows for entry of nutrients including glucose and the exit of insulin and waste products. However, antibodies and immune cells cannot cross the membrane and so it acts to prevent graft rejection. This will hopefully remove the need for transplant patients to take anti-rejection drugs. The experiments that I presented at the conference involved the reversal of diabetes in mice transplanted with a mouse cell line (MIN6) within barium alginate capsules. In summary, BALB/c (immunocompetant) mice received intra-peritoneal injections of capsules after induction of diabetes. Blood Glucose Levels (BGLs) were 15mM at time of transplant and these became normal (<7mM) at day 22 post-transplant. Mice maintained normal BGLs for up to 1 year post-transplant. Capsules were retrieved at day 94 and were found to have formed aggregates adhered to liver and spleen. Some loose capsules were retrieved with some fibrotic overgrowth surrounding the capsule. This experiment demonstrates the efficacy of such a capsule in protecting mouse insulin-producing cells from destruction and maintaining their function as indicated by normalised blood glucose levels. Since then I have achieved reversal of diabetes in mice transplanted with fetal pig ICCs encapsulated in the same manner. These results offer hope that other insulin-producing cells when placed within such microcapsules will be of clinical benefit in the treatment of insulin-dependant diabetes. Jayne Foster BScAg (hons).
PhD Student
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