A l'UM la science [S02-ep25]: From pancreatic islet transplants to the AETE-ISO plateau

This week on A l'UM la science, Orianne Villars, a doctor in the endocrinology-diabetology department at Montpellier University Hospital, and Julia Sabatier, a hospital engineer, talk about pancreatic islet transplantation. The report takes us to the analysis of trace elements in the environment and isotopes with Rémi Freydier and Olivier Bruguier. Finally, our guest for the last 3 minutes, Caroline Blanvilain, introduces us to the Récits d'Horizon exhibition. A program broadcast on Divergence FM every Wednesday at 6pm.

In France in 2022, 5,494 organ transplants were carried out, with the figure for tissue transplants rising to over 6,000. This recovery from the difficult years of Covid has brought the active waiting list down to just under 11,000 patients.

The history of grafts and transplants dates back to the ^19th century, when Swiss physician Jacques Reverdin first attempted to cover the surface of a wound with small pieces ofepidermis. As you can imagine, this didn't work out too well, and it wasn't until 1886 that the first corneal transplant was successful. 

These techniques improved throughout the twentieth century, and transplants developed. In 1952, the first living kidney transplant was attempted on the young Marius Renard. The teenager died 3 weeks later, but this failure nevertheless enabled the medical profession to understand the role of T lymphocytes in the rejection phenomenon, and to successfully perform the first kidney transplant in 1954.

The 1960s saw the first liver transplants, followed in 1967 by the first heart transplant, performed in South Africa and a year later in France by the famous Professor Cabrol.

For diabetics, the first pancreatic transplants were performed in 1976. This is the subject we're going to focus on today, or to be more precise, pancreatic islet transplants, which have only been authorized by the French health authority (Haute Autorité de Santé ) since July 2020. Last March, Montpellier University Hospital successfully performed not its first islet transplant, but the first transplant of isolated islets at the hospital by the Cell Therapy Unit (UTC).

Our two guests made a major contribution to this premiere. Orianne Villars is a doctor in the endocrinology-diabetology department at Montpellier University Hospital, and Julia Sabatier is a hospital engineer in charge of the technical side and the laboratory that isolates these islets.

In the second half of the program, we take you to the Faculty of Pharmacy, where the Hydropolis building houses the AETE-ISO research platform of the OSU OREME, which stands for "Analyse des Eléments en Trace dans l'Environnement & ISOtopes" (Trace Element Analysis in the Environment & ISOtopes). The analyses carried out on this 6-strong platform are used for research, particularly in the fields of water, the environment, geology, materials, bio-health, ecology, agronomy and archaeology. And we follow Rémi Freydier and Olivier Bruguier on their tour.

Finally, our guest for the last 3 minutes is Caroline Blanvilain, Deputy Director of the Faculty of Education, who presents the Récits d'Horizon exhibition, on view until June 8.

At UM la science you've got the program, here we go!

Coproduction: Divergence FM / Université de Montpellier
Animation: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interview: Lucie Lecherbonnier / Aline Périault
Reporting: Aline Périault
Editing : Bruno Bertrand
Production: Naomi Charmetan

Listen to the program "A l'UM la science" on Divergence FM 93.9