Bandar Seri Begawan - A Lecturer from University Brunei Darussalam (UBD) left the country yesterday to present her paper at the upcoming three-day World Conference on Regenerative Medicine, from October 29 to 31, in Leipzig, Germany.

Dr Norhayati Hj Ahmad from UBD's Faculty of Science will be presenting her paper titled "Pancreatic duct cell transdifferentiation into insulin producing cells in a normal and generating mouse model" which reports on the ability of a subset of terminally differentiated pancreatic duct cells to change into "Beta Cells" involved in the maintenance of normal glucose levels.

"If we can induce this regeneration in humans then we can find a longterm cure for patients with diabetes," she explained to The Brunei Times yesterday.

The findings of this research challenges previous views that cells destined for a particular use are unable to differentiate into other mature cell types and is important in light of the increasing incidence of diabetes and provides a model for studying the mechanism of pancreatic regeneration following the induced damage to the beta cells using chemical agents.

According to an earlier report, as many as 45,000 people in the Sultanate have been diagnosed with diabetes, one of the two most common causes of chronic kidney disease in Brunei, which consequently has one of the highest incidences of kidney disease in the world.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation predicts that about 366 million individuals worldwide will be suffering from the disease by 2030. The conference, organised by the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology, will gather scientists in the areas of Regenerative Medicine, Tissue Engineering and the rapidly growing field of Nanomedicine.-- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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