JDRF - Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

JDRF has announced a one year industry partnership with an Australian company to support a clinical trial into the use of encapsulated pig islets to treat type 1 diabetes.

The trial, being conducted in New Zealand by Living Cell Technologies, involves eight adult patients with established type 1 diabetes and hypoglycemia unawareness – a constant inability to sense when blood glucose levels are dropping dangerously low.

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“Stem cell tourism” is a term that has recently emerged to describe the increasing number of people heading overseas for medical stem cell treatments that are not approved or available in Australia.

In Australia, and many other countries around the world, stem cell therapy is only approved to treat blood disorders such as leukemia. Whilst research is moving rapidly and showing great promise, the use of any type of stem cell as a therapy for diseases like type 1 diabetes is still firmly classed as experimental. This doesn’t mean these therapies won’t work, just that scientists and clinicians have deemed there isn’t enough data available to demonstrate patient safety as well as a long term benefit.

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The Australian National Health and Medical Research Council has lifted a five-year ban on the clinical use of xenotransplantation – a medical process involving the transplantation of animal tissue into humans to treat disease.

The ban was originally established by the NHMRC in 2004 to allow for further research into the possible side effects of the technique, particularly concerning the potential transmission of disease from animals to humans.

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The Australian Government’s National Health and Medical Research Council has announced the 10 Best Research Projects in Australia 2009 and a JDRF researcher has made the list.

The book and accompanying series of podcasts was launched today by the Parliamentary Secretary for Health, the Hon Mark Butler MP, with the aim of encouraging the next generation of health and medical researchers.

“10 of the Best is testament to the excellence and innovation of Australian health and medical research,” Mr Butler said. “These inspiring projects show the challenges, rewards and potential for effecting real change that comes from working in this frontier area of science.”

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