Vanderbilt Diabetes Research and Training Center (DRTC)

Beta cell regeneration

Vanderbilt researchers dissected the complex microenvironment of the pancreatic islet to discover the signals that drive beta cell regeneration — as a possible treatment for diabetes.

Pancreatlas provides access to complex images of the human pancreas

Images of cells and tissues are a critical part of biomedical research as they show which molecules or proteins are present and where these molecules are located in the tissue. Using increasingly sophisticated microscopes and imaging approaches, scientists can now look at more than 40 different molecules at once, an approach known as multi-plex imaging, where in the past they could only look at three or four molecules at a time.

By Jill Clendening

Marcela Brissova, PhD, and MD/PhD student John “Jack” Walker are part of the research team that developed a pseudoislet system for integrated studies of human islet function.

July 30, 2020

Pseudoislet system expected to advance pancreas and diabetes research

The multicellular, 3-D structure of human pancreatic islets — the areas of the pancreas containing hormone-producing or endocrine cells — has presented challenges to researchers as they study and manipulate these cells’ function, but Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers have now developed a pseudoislet system that allows for much easier study of islet function.

By Jill Clendening

Team members involved in the study include, from left, Melissa Hilmes, MD, Daniel Moore, MD, PhD, Alvin Powers, MD, Jon Williams, PhD, and Jack Virostko, PhD. (photo by Jessica Kimber)

April 25, 2019

Study expands insight on shrinking pancreas in type 1 diabetes

Researchers with the Vanderbilt Diabetes Research and Training Center (DRTC) have discovered a progressive decline in pancreas volume over a one-year period in children and adolescents with newly diagnosed Type 1 diabetes.

By Jill Clendening

February 28, 2019

Evans set for next Discovery Lecture

Ronald Evans, PhD, renowned for his discoveries of nuclear hormone receptors and how they work, will deliver the next Flexner Discovery Lecture on Thursday, March 7.

By Leigh MacMillan

September 13, 2018

First Islet Workshop draws international audience

More than 200 investigators from across the globe who specialize in islet biology, the study of hormone-producing cell clusters in the pancreas known as islets, recently gathered in Nashville to share knowledge and present the challenges and successes of their work during the first Islet Biology Workshop at Vanderbilt.