Islet Autotransplant Research Program

Dr. Bellin’s research is focused on understanding and improving outcomes after islet transplantation.  Islet transplant is a specialized procedure in which islets are harvested from the pancreas and infused back in the liver.  This procedure can be performed for patients who are having a pancreatectomy to treat chronic pancreatitis (total pancreatectomy with islet autotransplant) or for patients who have type 1 diabetes (alloislet transplant).

This is a clinical research team.  All research we are conducting is clinical or translational in nature, and relies on human research participants or biological specimens collected from research participants.  Specific efforts of this group are addressing important clinical challenges, including:

• Determining which patients will have pain relief and improved quality of life from total pancreatectomy with islet autotransplant and when to intervene with major surgery for chronic pancreatitis.
• Understanding factors that impact the number of islets that can be isolated out of a pancreas
• Developing new therapies to improve the survival and engraftment of transplanted islets
• Understanding the outcomes of total pancreatectomy islet autotransplant in children with genetic pancreatitis
• Understanding risk and mechanisms underlying diabetes in pancreatitis
• How to best use cell transplant therapy (beta cell replacement therapy) to reverse need for insulin injections in patients with type 1 diabetes.