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Eelco de Koning: Towards a cure for diabetes

Video

Towards a cure for diabetes

Generating new islets of Langerhans

Diabetes patients have two options for procuring new cells that produce insulin producing: pancreas transplantation or islet cell transplantation. In the pancreas the so-called islets of Langerhans produce insulin. Through stem cell research the Eelco de Koning Group is trying to generate these islets. And this could bring about a real breakthrough in curing diabetes.

Researcher

Prof. dr. Eelco de Koning

Eelco de Koning is internist-endocrinologist at Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) and affiliated with the Hubrecht Institute in Utrecht. At the Diabetes Research Laboratories, University of Oxford, he studied functional and pathological changes of Islets of Langerhans in type 2 diabetes. After his PhD he worked successively at the Medical Centre of Utrecht University, the Joslin Diabetes Center of Harvard University and finally at the LUMC. Currently, he coordinates the human islets transplantation program for patients with type 1 diabetes. At the Hubrecht Institute he leads research on generating human insulin-producing cells from progenitor cells in the pancreas and he works hard to cure type 1 diabetes.

Institute

  • Hubrecht Instituut

Credits

Produced by Fast Facts
With the support of the Hubrecht Institute

Thanks to the coworkers at the Hubrecht Institute, the researchers at the Eelco de Koning Group, Cindy Loomans, Leon van Gurp
With images from: Marten Engelse (LUMC), Stichting Diabetes Onderzoek Nederland

Made by: Moira van Dijk 2011
In cooperation with
Camera & editing: John Treffer
Music: Daan van West
Graphic design: SproetS