Type 1 Diabetes and Stem Cells

 

 

 

 

 

 

PROPOSE ACTION

In this project, we are going to research some innovating ways to help people using stem cells. To further out our research and investigation, we talked to a stem cell researcher named, Charis Seg to help us give more information regarding this stem cell research. For this research, I and my group are researching regarding pancreatic stem cells to try and ‘cure’ Type 1 Diabetes. By using pancreatic stem cells as a therapy for diabetes, it can reduce the use of insulin injections because diabetic patients need to do this at least twice a day. And if the patients want to do a transplant instead of the use of insulin injections, they can, however, according to the researchers, there are lack of donors – which not everyone with diabetes can perform transplantations. Charis Seg graduated in UBC in Canada, and she mastered experiment medicine and is now working in a biotic company. Because of her, I got to understand and learn a little bit more about stem cells, and she gave us information regarding it very detailed that I don’t think I’ll have to do more research online. She is already like the source to what we are looking for regarding stem cells. It felt nice to talk with an expert who knows a lot about organoids and her responses were very detailed. We only had one question to ask her – which is, “Would pancreatic stem cells be more efficient/convenient than taking insulin injections? If so, in what ways?”, but she actually answered our question with a lot of information. And she even gave us a company website regarding diabetes called ViaCyte to help us find more information and dig deeper into our research.

INFORMATION FLUENCY

ASK

The questions that we used as our guide throughout this research are:

-What are the possibilities of a patient being “cured” of diabetes with pancreatic stem cells?

-How will stem cells be used to treat type 1 diabetes?

-Would this be more convenient/efficient than having to take insulin injections? If so in what way/(s)?

-How is type 1 diabetes usually treated?

-What is the function of the insulins inside the pancreas?

-Were there any scientists that are researching regarding stem cells as a cure/treatment for type 1 diabetes?

ACQUIRE

I started with Google to find some information during our research, but there wasn’t really any specific answers that actually answer our questions. So, I went to YouTube and use it to get information about what we were working on, and I think it was helpful because there were some visuals that makes it easy to follow and understand, rather than reading online with a bunch of long paragraphs. I’ve also used our school library’s search tool called, Destiny, and Charis recommended to us a website (ViaCyte) that concerns about diabetes and it was very useful because the company has done trials and research using stem cells as a treatment for diabetes.

Google.ca

Youtube.com

Viacyte.com

Diabetes.co.uk

Diabetesresearch.org

Destiny.sd43.bc.ca

Charis Seg – stem cell researcher

ANALYZE

What was the process you used to investigate the topic?

First is that we have to think of some issues/diseases that can be treated/cured with stem cells. In order to find information regarding our research, we have to brainstorm some relevant questions and then find answers to these questions. We also had the chance to talk with a stem-cell researcher/expert, Charis Seg – she helped us give more information by asking her questions regarding our topic.

Sources (APA Format)

• Diabetes Research Institute Foundation. (2018, February 27). Diabetes Research Institute Scientists Identify Unique Pancreatic Stem Cells with the Potential to Regenerate Beta Cells that Respond to Glucose. Retrieved from Diabetes Research Institute Foundation: https://www.diabetesresearch.org/DRI-scientists-identify-unique-pancreatic-stem-cells-with-the-potential-to-regenerate-beta-cells-that-respond-to-glucose
• co.uk. (n.d.). Diabetes and Stem Cell Research. Retrieved June 8, 2018, from Diabetes.co.uk: https://www.diabetes.co.uk/Diabetes-And-Stem-Cell-Research.html
• Jacobson, A. (2016, August 19). How Can Stem Cells Cure Diabetes. Retrieved from Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7zH7GGPfG4
• Laino, C. (2012, June 11). Type 1 Diabetes Stem Cell Treatment Shows Promise. Retrieved from WebMD: https://www.webmd.com/diabetes/news/20120611/stem-cells-type-1-diabetes#1
• Shore, R. (2018, January 16). Stem-cell-based treatment aims to reverse Type 1 Diabetes. Retrieved from Vancouver Sun: http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/stem-cell-implant-trial-aims-to-reverse-type-1-diabetes
• (2017, July 3). The Diabetes Epidemic. Retrieved from ViaCyte: https://viacyte.com/clinical/diabetes-epidemic
• Woodfield, J. (2018, February 28). Stem Cell Discovery Could Help Regenerate Beta Cells in Type 1 Diabetes. Retrieved from Diabetes.co.uk: https://www.diabetes.co.uk/news/2018/feb/stem-cell-discovery-could-help-regenerate-beta-cells-in-type-1-diabetes-95277166.html

ASSESS

For me, I’d say me and my group did pretty well on doing the research, but we could’ve dug deeper and put more details on our information. We could’ve elaborated more on what Charis responded to our question during the Skype chat, but it was really a nice experience to talk to a researcher and she even put effort on putting the website up on the screen she was referring to us during the call. I think we did a great job citing our sources in an appropriate format, and trying out new digital (search) tools like Destiny – from the school library’s website. For our final piece, we could’ve added more images to make it look a little bit more interesting.