• Question: Is there going to be a cure for type 1 diabities

    Asked by conor to Craig, Marta, Natalie, Nicholas on 15 Mar 2017.
    • Photo: Natalie Doig

      Natalie Doig answered on 15 Mar 2017:


      Hopefully in the future, although there is still a way to go . For example there are promising studies in animal models where they can use stem cells to generate new (and functional) insulin producing cells in the pancreas – there is still a lot of research to be done before these approaches could be used in humans though, and some ethical considerations!

    • Photo: Marta Varela

      Marta Varela answered on 15 Mar 2017:


      I hope so! It may take a while though…

    • Photo: Craig O'Hare

      Craig O'Hare answered on 15 Mar 2017:


      I would hope so.

      As Natalie has pointed out, there has been some promising developments from using stem cell therapies recently. Unfortunately there are a lot of ethical, safety and technical considerations to be worked out first. While we now have the technology to make stem cells without taking them from foetal tissue, we still need to test how they would behave inside long term inside a person long term.

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