institute of stem cell research

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Due to modern life style, obesity and diabetes becomes a mayor health problem.  The aim of this project is to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms during pancreas development that lead to the differentiation of endocrine and exocrine cell types, potentially identifying new possibilities for therapeutic approaches. The pancreatic epithelium contains all progenitor cells for the exocrine (acinar cells and ductal cells) and endocrine (glucagon-producing a-cells, insulin-producing ß-cells, somatostatin-producing d-cells and pancreatic polypeptide-producing PP cells) compartment. The surrounding mesenchyme provides signals for growth and differentiation. We have successfully separated pancreatic epithelium from mesenchyme and generated a mRNA expression profile of both tissues.  Now we employ an ex-vivo organ culture system to test and indentify potential factors that direct early lineage decisions in the pancreas.

[1] Zischka H, Gloeckner CJ, Willmann S, Swiatek-de Lange M, Ueffing M.: Improved mass spectrometric identification of gel-separated hydrophobic membrane proteins after sodium dodecyl sulfate removal by ion-pair extraction. Proteomics. Dec 2004