Grant: Project Grant

The epidemic of diabetes continues to grow across the world and our country. Currently, 1 in 3 Canadians lives with prediabetes or diabetes. In some communities that rate soars above 60%. For Indigenous Canadians, that risk is 80%. Canadians under 20 years of age now face a 50% chance of developing the disease in their lifetime. Diabetes has cost our healthcare system $16 B/y in 2020 representing 30.7% of the total health care system cost. Without prompt action, diabetes threatens not only an increasing number of Canadians but also the viability of our healthcare system. A small cluster of cells known as the islets of Langerhans are responsible for the release of insulin to regulate blood sugar levels. The loss of these cells ability to produce insulin is the origin of diabetes. Patients are treated with a lifetime administration of exogenous insulin to achieve normoglycemia. Other alternative is the islet transplantation as a viable treatment option for Type 1 diabetes (T1D). However, islet transplantation suffers from immunogenicity which leads to the dysfunction and eventual loss of the graft. To overcome this reaction, one strategy involves forming a protective barrier that can maintain the function of the cells while shielding them from immune attacks. A key feature of such barrier its thickness and the transplant volume to make sure cells can have adequate circulation of nutrients/waste as well as glucose and oxygen. As such, the aim is developing a conformal coating to provide a nanoscale barrier between islets and their environment with adequate stability and immunoprotection, while regulating the circulation of materials into and out of the cells. To achieve this goal, the nanocoating on islets will be developed using polysaccharide-based polyelectrolytes. The coated islet will be fully characterized in vitro and in proper mice model to assess the coated islet functionality and the absence of immunogenicity for their transplantation and treatment of T1D.