Stem cell-derived pancreatic islets are being studied as a rich transplantable source for insulin production, a therapeutic for type 1 diabetes that overcomes the need to obtain islet cells from deceased donors.

The first attempts to transplant islet cells to treat type 1 diabetes began half a century ago. Doctors then sought the pancreatic tissue of deceased donors from which islet-producing tissue was removed for transplants. The islets produce life-saving insulin. Substantial advancements and increased success rates have led to islet-cell transplants becoming an approved therapy in Canada and Europe. The technique is still considered investigational in the United States.

But in a series of new advances, a team of endocrinologists and regenerative medicine specialists in the Netherlands has developed methods that improve the production of stem cells used to generate insulin-making islets.