C1

C1: Suitability of porcine islets and novel cell sources for diabetes transplantation therapy

The aim of this project is to thoroughly evaluate the applicability of adult porcine islets for transplantation therapy of diabetes. Therefore, we will extend established in situ approaches to compare endogenous porcine and human islet cell function. In addition, we will longitudinally in vivo assess and compare porcine and human islets after transplantation under hyperglycemic conditions and evaluate the effect of macroencapsulation on their therapeutic capacity. Importantly, we will compare our findings to the potential of porcine neonatal islet cell clusters and human ES cell-derived beta cells to find the most suitable source for islet cell based diabetes therapy.