Help for Diabetics
Diabetes has become a global concern as over half a billion people worldwide have diabetes. In the United States about 34 million Americans, or 1-10 people, has diabetes, with 90 percent of these suffering from Type 2 diabetes.
Professor Shulamit Levenberg and Ph.D. candidate Rita Beckerman, have tested a promising treatment and a possible cure for diabetes. A gifted, highly regarded scientist Professor Levenberg directs The Technion Center for 3D Bioprinting and the Rina and Avner Schneur Center for Diabetes Research. Rina and Avner Schneur had a goal of eliminating Type 2 diabetes and read of Professor Levenberg’s “interest in diabetes in a Techninon newsletter and contacted her and she laid out a plan for them.
The plan involves a novel approach, as her group “isolated muscle cells in mice-one of the main targets of insulin, as they absorb sugar from the blood-and engineered these cells to present more insulin-activated sugar transporters (GLUT4). These cells were then grown to form an engineered muscle tissue, and finally transported back to the abdomen of the mice.” This had encouraging results; “The engineered cells not only proceeded to absorb sugar correctly, improving blood sugar levels, but also improved absorption in the mice’s other muscle cells. After this one treatment the mice remained cured of their diabetes for four months. Their blood sugar levels remained lower, and they had reduced levels of fatty liver normally displayed in Type 2 diabetes.” The prospects for this treatment bring hope for people with diabetes as this “offers a one-time treatment rather than daily medication-could significantly improve both quality of life and life expectancy of those who have diabetes.”
The desire for Rina and Avner Schneur is closer to achievement thanks to Professor Levenberg and Rita Beckerman, both to help humanity and find a cure for diabetes. With this discovery and treatment, here’s another way Israel has blessed the world (Genesis 12:3).
(Source: American Technion Society)
