A 25-year-old woman with type 1 diabetes started producing her own insulin less than three months after receiving a transplant of reprogrammed stem cells1. She is the first person with the disease to be treated using cells that were extracted from her own body.

“I can eat sugar now,” said the woman, who lives in Tianjing, on a call with Nature. It has been more than a year since the transplant, and, she says, “I enjoy eating everything — especially hotpot.” The woman asked to remain anonymous to protect her privacy.

James Shapiro, a transplant surgeon and researcher at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, says the results of the surgery are stunning. “They’ve completely reversed diabetes in the patient, who was requiring substantial amounts of insulin beforehand.”

  • JusticeForPorygon@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    5 months ago

    Stem cell research is something i’ve found myself interested in lately. It’s crazy the amount of things it’s been able to accomplish.

    • Nyxon@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      5 months ago

      Honestly, when I first read your comment I read “I’ve been able to accomplish” not “It’s been able to accomplish” and thought to myself… yeah, look, this is good research with tons of benefit potential for the world but maybe these laws are in place because DIY scientists with home labs shouldn’t be messing with it just yet, I mean, that sounds reasonable. The meme provided also kinda could be taken either way in the “I’ve”, “it’s”

      But yeah, it took only a few seconds to re-read it and find my mistake. I had figured you were joking with the “I’ve” thing to prove a point, not that you were really experimenting with stem cells at home. Either way, it was a fun mental rabbit hole for about 5 seconds. So thank you.

      And I agree with you, we should be funding this type of scientific research.