Organ transplantation is a therapy used for end stage organ failure. Currently, the only cure for type I diabetes is islet and pancreas transplantation. The Davies laboratory is addressing this issue in two very different ways.

i) Without a daily cocktail of medications the body's immune system would destroy the transplant in just a few days. On the other hand, the medications themselves can cause severe side effects including increased susceptibility to infection and cancer, as well as organ toxicity. Therefore, developing new therapeutic strategies to prevent transplant rejection remains a very active field of research. Decades of research by thousands of investigators tells us that the way the body kills a transplant is very similar to the way the body of a patient with diabetes or multiple sclerosis kills its own tissue. Therefore, the research that is focused on preventing type I diabetes and multiple sclerosis that is ongoing in the Davies laboratory in equally relevant to preventing organ transplantation rejection.

ii) There are insufficient islet and pancreas donors to supply all of the diabetic patients who are in great need of a transplant. The Davies laboratory has recently set up a system to test the ability of the Houghten chemical libraries to promote growth of islets in culture. If successful, the newly grown islets will be tested for their ability to reverse diabetes after transplantation.

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