Gladys Teitelman

Biography

Gladys Teitelman is currently working as Professor in the department of Cell Biology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, United States of America.

Research Interest

Cell Lineage and Differentiation of Insulin-Producing Cells During Embryonic Development and Pancreatic Islet Regeneration Blood glucose levels are regulated by insulin, the hormone synthesized by the B cells of the pancreas. Insulin producing cells are the most abundant cell types of the islets of Langerhans; the islets also contain smaller number of cells that produce other hormones. Because of the pivotal role of insulin in carbohydrate metabolism, destruction of the B cells leads to hyperglycemia and overt diabetes. Daily injections of insulin are required to circumvent the deleterious effects of the disease. To avoid daily exogenous insulin administration, it would be desirable to develop a source of insulin cells that can be used for transplantation. Mature B cells could be transplanted. This approach, however, has several disadvantages because mature S cells do not proliferate, are scarce and do not have a protracted life span. Our main objective is to develop a source of B cells that could be induced to proliferate and differentiate in vitro, thus proving a reliable source of transplantable insulin producing cells.