Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science

Current Projects

Pancreatic Islet Transplantation:  An islet cell transplant provides new insulin-producing cells from a donor pancreas for individuals with severe type 1 diabetes. While islet transplants are successful in preventing severe insulin deficiency and helping individuals maintain control of their blood sugar, success rates in long-term studies are still low. In order to improve the transplantation success rate in diabetic patients, the Diabetes Research Laboratory is focusing its efforts on research that may ultimately improve the yield, viability and insulin production of transplanted islets.

Artificial Pancreatic Islet Creation:  We are working on creating semi-artificial islets, where a polymer is used to house insulin-producing islets. A variety of artificial polymer structures are evaluated in order to create the most viable conditions for islets to grow and produce the insulin needed for diabetic patients to survive. The unfortunate complications of diabetes, many of which are deadly, often develop during the later stages of the disease. If successful, the results of this project would revolutionize the way diabetic patients are treated and eliminate the need for daily insulin injections.

The Lab Team
Principal Investigator
	Lisa Stehno-Bittel, PT, PhD Professor Department Chairperson KU Dept. of Physical Therapy & Rehab. Science University of Kansas Medical Center