Development of a Bioartificial Pancreas and Use of Hydrogels for the Treatment of Diabetic Complications
(Opara, Perez-Luna, Teymour, Brey, Hall, Balasubramanian, Turitto)
Islet cell encapsulation. Successful development of a bioartificial pancreas through islet cell encapsulation offers a potential cure for Type 1 diabetes.
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Thrombosis Prevention and Blood Vessel Formation
Thrombosis is a major complication associated with islet transplantation even in successful cases of the procedure. It has recently been reported that isolated islets produce tissue factor that triggers an adverse clotting event that is the instant blood-mediated inflammatory reaction seen in clinical islet transplantation.
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Wound Healing
Use of biopolymers (hydrogels) for wound healing has tremendous potential for the treatment of diabetic ulcers. Disruption of cell membranes is a major cause of tissue necrosis, which is associated with ischemia-reperfusion injuries.
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Non-invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring
(Opara, Perez-Luna, Raman)
Sensor technologies that eliminate drawing blood for monitoring blood glucose concentration are very appealing to patients with diabetes and their caregivers.
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Education Tools and Software
(Cinar, Opara)
Patients with Type 1 diabetes have to plan and regulate their food intake, exercise, and insulin injection/infusion. Patients with Type 2 diabetes and people with obesity need to plan their food intake and exercise.
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Diabetic Retinopathy
(Derwent)
Diabetic retinopathy is a major complication of diabetes and the biggest cause of blindness. The goal of the research is to investigate the role of nitric oxide (NO) as a neural modulator from normal and diabetic retinas by using electrophysiological recordings and quantitative signal analysis and by integrating retinal blood flow and retinal cellular function studies.
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Modeling the Effects of Fatty Acids in Insulin Secretion, Insulin Resistance, and Islet Cell Dysfunction
(Cinar, Opara)
Free fatty acids (FFA) in blood play important roles in muscle, heart, liver, and pancreas. Elevated FFA concentrations cause insulin resistance in liver and muscles. Elevated FFA and intracellular lipid concentration are the primary suspects for inhibiting insulin signaling, causing reduction in insulin-translocation, and suppression of glucose transport.
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Diabetic Neuropathy
(Mogul)
Research at IIT in neurobiology and electrophysiology provide immense opportunity to study diabetic neuropathy. The focus at IIT is on a quantitative approach toward understanding neuronal physiology using both conventional and novel experimental techniques at the cellular and systems levels.