Diabetes Research Center

Center of Excellence in Translational Medicine

Diabetes diagnosed under the age of 40 is mainly caused by a massive shortage in insulin- producing beta cells in the pancreas. In order to provide patients with a sufficient beta cell mass, two major strategies are developed, one aiming for the implantation of therapeutic beta cell grafts, the other for a regeneration of beta cells in the pancreas.

The Diabetes Research Center (DRC) at Vrije Universiteit Brussel undertakes an R&D program in which both objectives are addressed by its synergistic teams in basic research, preclinical development and clinical trials. This program involves a close collaboration with the DRC-spin-off company Beta-Cell NV and with other partners of the Center for Beta Cell Therapy in Diabetes, which has its central facilities on the VUB-Medical Campus.

The Center is an international consortium of basic and clinical research departments, associated reference centers and bio-industry. It has received major support by the European Commission (FP6 and FP7) and by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (New York, www.jdrf.org). The bio-industrial development at DRC is supported as a VUB-Industrial Research Core (IOF-zwaartepunt).
 

Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Diabetes Research Center
Laarbeeklaan 103
B-1090 Brussels
Belgium
[T] +32 (0)2 477 45 41
[F] +32 (0)2 477 45 45
Head: Daniel Pipeleers
[E] daniel.pipeleers@vub.ac.be
[W] www.betacelltherapy.org