**Juvenile diabetes..Hughes Medical, Harvard, and Sanford Health

During last week, Sanford  Health announced it will be seeking a cure for type 1 diabetes as part of a $400 million donation from T. Denny Sanford.

Sanford health seeks cure for type 1 diabetes
Sanford project to focus on beta cell regeneration

Sanford Health leaders announced today the focus of the Sanford Project is curing type 1 diabetes via the body's natural ability to regenerate beta cells. Identified as the attack on one of the greatest health concerns of our time, Sanford Health is dedicating health research resources to cure type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes.

"The concept for the Sanford Project is to focus on a single, pressing healthcare issue and establish a world-class research team to achieve significant progress within a reasonable time period," said Sanford Health Executive Vice President Dave Link. "Through an extensive selection process which outlined specific candidate criteria, Sanford Health has chosen to attack type 1 diabetes by focusing on beta cell regeneration."

Type 1 diabetes currently affects nearly 3 million people in the United States. It is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system attacks and destroys insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. It often strikes during childhood, makes patients dependent on insulin for life and carries the constant threat of devastating complications. Regeneration research focuses on triggering the body to re-grow the insulin-producing beta cells that have been killed by the autoimmune response and to prevent destruction of the newly regenerated cells by the same autoimmune reaction.

"Beta cell regeneration is one of the fastest-growing and most intriguing areas of type 1 diabetes research," stated Ben Perryman, PhD, Sanford Health Vice President of Research. "Through the Sanford Project, our research team will hope to either spur the body to copy existing functioning beta cells or to coax the pancreas to create new ones. When people with the disease have regenerated beta cells, they can begin making their own insulin again. The intent of the Sanford Project will be to focus on bench-side research and closely integrating translational research opportunities with clinical treatment."

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-06/jdrf-shs060608.php
http://snipurl.com/2em5m

Tonight on CBS 60 Minutes, there was a story on Hughes Foundation with $11 Billion in assets has put money into a Harvard researcher also working on juvenile diabetes.

Hughes investigator Doug Melton, at Harvard, is thinking about a cure for juvenile diabetes. He's working with stem cells from human embryos.

"And I can think, as I do, most every waking moment of the day, 'How am I gonna get those cells to become insulin-producing cells?' And the Hughes makes that possible," says Melton, who wouldn't have gotten a federal grant at all for his research.

In 2001, President Bush imposed his stem cell ban, in which he tried to balance the objections of opponents of abortion against the wishes of scientists to work with collections of stem cells,

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/13/60minutes/main629388_page3.shtml
http://snipurl.com/2em4x

There is more information at each story link above for both stories.  The race may be interesting.

*** Stay tuned even if you don't have and never want to have a credit card and have never even heard of Howard Hughes or confuse that with "Howard Huge"-- Doug Wiken

Comments

[sheila weinstock]

what an exciting program 60 minutes shared w/many of us. i am a diabetic for 44 years, insulin dependent and the proud mother of 3 healthy sons. please do keep us posted on further accomplishments on juvenile diabetes at the howard hughes medical institute. respectfully yours sheila

[Tara]

GO STEM CELLS!!!

TYPE 1 FOR 9+ YEARS, WAITING PATIENTLY FOR A CURE...