Diabetes Research: Islet Cell Transplantation

At Baylor, innovative research in islet cell transplantation is giving people with type 1 (or juvenile on-set) diabetes new hope—the hope to be free of insulin and to prevent the ravages of diabetes which routinely threaten the kidneys, legs, eyes, heart, and brain.   

What is an Islet Cell Transplant?

In this procedure, a donor pancreas is taken to a processing laboratory, where specially trained technicians extract insulin-producing islet cells. The isolated cells are then infused into the patient’s liver where they begin producing insulin.  

Baylor was the first center in Texas to gain FDA permission to process pancreatic islet cells for transplantation and we’re the only hospital in the southwest performing islet cell transplantation from our own lab. Learn More

An Advanced Research Facility

Research is vital to establishing islet cell transplantation as standard therapy for diabetes; however our scientific team has far outgrown their current laboratory facilities. Continued advancement requires increased space and an advanced level of laboratory to support Phase II/Phase III clinical trials.nbsp;

Baylor All Saints Medical Center plans to renovate an existing medical arts building on its campus to become an advanced research facility. 

For more information on this program or how you can help, please contact Melanie Corcoran, Development Officer, at Melanie.Corcoran@baylorhealth.edu or 817.922.7706, or you can donate now.