Biohacking diabetes

Hi all. I'm new to this forum and biohacking. The research in the following link has held my interest for a while, and I've posted it here just to get some feedback on what obstacles we may face in transferring to people.

You essentially extract neural stem cells from the olfactory bulb with a scope (which is relatively easy even in people according to the researchers), culture them ex vivo using Wnt3 / Wnt3a ligands and anti-IGFB-4, then transplant them into the pancreas.

Figure 2 in that link is essentially it.

This research first came to my interest because of the minimal genetic manipulation involved.

So why isn't it already being done? Can it be done grinder style?





  • I got this.
    Why isn't it already done and can it be done grinder style?
    yeeeessssss... in as much as any biology work can be done with the proper tools. Working with stem cells requires a constant source of CO2, liquid nitrogen, a clean area, antibiotics, grown medium, and the skills to not kill them. wnt3a proteins are really expensive. Doing a transplant into the pancreas is no laughing matter either. 
    I mean, i could mail you some stem cells if you want them. They grow faster than I can use them.

  • That isn't to say it is a bad idea, just expensive. And I am totally being serious when I say that I am totally down to do this project, if someone can get em the tools. Any willing participants, sign up below.
  • edited January 2014

    Thanks for the feedback glims, appreciate it, I'll post more when I have some time later. This is the original research [animal model], including results.


    In full:



  • Cool. My lab has actually done some collaboration with that group. Feel free to ask me if you have any questions in your research.
  • I'm obviously a willing participant so that's 2 so far haha....though at this moment, my expertise in this area is limited. Whatever I contribute intially will be in terms of funding for equipment etc if the project does get off the ground. Also, I'm based out of Singapore / Malaysia.

    Of the points you mention glims in your first post, perhaps the transplantation site and method is the key to making this work?

    Cell culture and prep is given in good detail in the full research paper in the 'supplementary information' section, so for someone who has background in this field it should be do-able...

    The thing is, for the control TP experiment, the neural stem cells were microinjected into the pancreas of the rats; and for the theraupetic experiment, the neural progenitor cells were on 3 - 5 stacked collagen sheets that were grafted near the splenic lobe of the pancreas. It was viable for rats.

    From the reading i've done, for people, any kind of direct injection into the pancreas comes with a high risk of pancreatitis / inflammation. Is this a minor or potentially major issue? Secondly, grafting collagen sheets onto a human pancreas sounds like a fairly invasive op too. Pancreatic islet transplantation is usually done (as per my reading) with a catheter into the portal vein, and is more viable, but will the environment work as well as the pancreas for insulin production? Do the neural progenitor cells need the environment of the pancreas or can they function to produce insulin outside it (the liver etc).?.Maybe this question is answered in the paper, I'm not well versed enough yet to know.

    The authors of the study mention their cells as a alternative, safer source for pancreatic islet transplantation, so maybe this is the way they have in mind for people.

    Are there any other methods of transplanting cells onto  human pancreas....?

    It's worth a go either way to create the neural progenitor cells and deliver as you would pancreatic islet cells. I'm working on more information of course, any feedback is welcome.


  • Is this thread still active? Can we share ideas about diabetes?

  • Of course. Also, you if you haven't, check out the artificial pancreas project. I feel like it's one of the bigger biohacking successes.
Sign In or Register to comment.