Perhaps We're Looking at a Cure For Diabetes

Analyzing what Chris Wright calls "the nitty-gritty of how cells form" provides clues to many mysteries.

Among them, how to cure diabetes, says Wright, director of Vanderbilt University's Program in Developmental Biology. Shown here is a sample of the cells Wright and his lab study -- developing pancreatic tissue, stained in various colors to distinguish endocrine tissue (in green) from epithelial ducts (in purple) and pancreatic cells with a specific gene called PTF1A (in red).

Wright and his lab have discovered that PTF1A is crucial to the formation of the pancreas, including the beta cells that produce the insulin that diabetics lack. "Take away PTF1A, and cells can no longer form the pancreas . . . . They change their job," Wright says.

Using this knowledge, Wright plans to make beta cells that can replace a diabetic's dysfunctional or destroyed ones. Wright's work is in mice for now, but he believes that it could be applied to humans within the next five years.

-- Kathleen Hom