Diabetes Center Established

The Medical School and Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International (JDF) have launched a new center for finding a cure for Type 1 diabetes. The most severe form of the disease, it commonly appears between the ages of 10 and 16 years and destroys insulin-secreting islet cells in the pancreas. Such cells are needed to control levels of sugar in blood. An estimated 2 million people in this country have the disease. The new research effort will focus on replacing the lost cells with transplants of islet cells. The Foundation has agreed to provide $20 million over the next five years to support the JDF Center for Islet Cell Transplantation. Most of the center's researchers are faculty members at the Medical School, the School of Public Health, and Harvard-affiliated hospitals.