A brief history of immune recognition and tolerance of pancreatic islet transplants by Adam Burrack, PhD We’ve not spent much space in this blogs series describing how pancreatic islet transplants are destroyed. In one of our first blog posts, I described Doug Melton’s work producing patient-specific beta cells, but haven’t gotten into the details of […]
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Saturday Morning Research Review – November 26, 2016
Benefits and limitations of HbA1c as a measurement of T1D management by Adam Burrack, PhD Ever wonder how well hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) reflects your diabetes management? I know I have. First, a little background on what this number represents and how it came to become the “gold standard” of diabetes management. Long story short, […]
Saturday Morning Research Review – November 19, 2016
Activity level improves T1D management by Adam Burrack, PhD A key pillar of YOUglycemia’s mission statement is that consistent aerobic exercise helps to manage type 1 diabetes. These benefits include enhanced sensitivity to injected insulin, improved carbohydrate metabolism, and the well-documented benefits of aerobic exercise for learning and memory formation summarized in this Runner’s World […]
Saturday Morning Research Review – November 12, 2016
Introducing the “exercise hormone” – irisin by Adam Burrack, PhD I have previously described the role of the signaling molecule IL-6 as the “exercise factor” in several posts to our blog. Briefly, IL-6 is normally thought of as a “pro-inflammatory” signal released during infections. But, during aerobic exercise our muscles produce this molecule. In this […]
Saturday Morning Research Review – November 5, 2016
Newly discovered connection between IL-6 and T1D onset by Adam Burrack, PhD Interleukins – the general term is cytokines – are like the hormones of the immune system: they can be produced by either cells of the immune system or infected tissue cells, and can influence the activation of immune cells and their movement throughout […]
Saturday Morning Research Review – October 29, 2016
Beta cell biology of GABA in inflammation and exercise by Adam Burrack, PhD Several blogs in our series have focused on the role of insulin-derived peptides as targets of autoreactive T cells in the destruction of beta cells leading to development of type 1 diabetes. In particular my descriptions of the research of George Eisenbarth […]
Saturday Morning Research Review – October 22, 2016
Recent studies of glucose control and autoimmunity in pets by Adam Burrack, PhD Last fall I profiled diabetic guide dogs, which have been gaining favor among people with type 1 diabetes (T1D) who live alone and/or are concerned about severe hypoglycemic episodes. Today I will describe several more recent reports detailing the development of diabetes […]
Saturday Morning Research Review – October 15, 2016
Potential “phenotypic signature” of T cells in pediatric-onset type 1 diabetes by Adam Burrack, PhD Predictive markers of T cell responses against beta cells are a highly sought clinical diagnostic. Analysis of a validated, limited, set of cell surface proteins on T cells collected from peripheral blood would facilitate “risk assessment” in people at-risk of […]
Saturday Morning Research Review – October 8, 2016
Beta cells work harder in response to high-fat diet before they increase mass or divide by Adam Burrack, PhD It has been a long-standing question in the beta cell biology field how beta cells respond to metabolic stress – or high demand for insulin production. The answer to this question is directly relevant to the […]
Saturday Morning Research Review – October 1, 2016
Report on Human Islet Research Network, May 2016 meeting by Adam Burrack, PhD I recently had the chance to attend the annual meeting of the human islet research network in Bethesda, Maryland. This is a group of researchers funded through the National Institutes of Health, specifically the NIDDK and the Special Diabetes Program. The human islet […]