UM atUM [S02-ep25]: From Pancreatic Islet Transplants to the AETE-ISO Platform
This week on "UM at theUM ," Orianne Villars, a physician in the Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes at Montpellier University Hospital, and Julia Sabatier, a hospital engineer, talk to us about pancreatic islet transplants. The report takes us to the “Analysis of Trace Elements in the Environment and Isotopes” lab with Rémi Freydier and Olivier Bruguier. Finally, our guest for the last three minutes, Caroline Blanvilain, introduces us to the exhibition “Récits d’Horizon.” The program airs on Divergence FM every Wednesday at 6 p.m.
In France in 2022, 5,494 organ transplants were performed; for tissue transplants, that number rose to more than 6,000. This recovery following the difficult years of the COVID-19 pandemic has helped reduce the active waiting list to just under 11,000 patients.
The history ofgraftsandtransplantsdates back tothe 19thcentury, when a Swiss doctor named Jacques Reverdin first attempted to cover the surface of a wound with small piecesof skin. As you might expect, this didn’t work very well, and it wasn’t until 1886 that the first successful corneal transplant was performed.
These techniques continued to improve throughout the 20th century, and organ transplantation became more widespread. In 1952, the first living-donor kidney transplant was attempted on a young man named Marius Renard. The teenager died three weeks later, but this failure nevertheless enabled the medical community to understand the role of T cells in the rejection process 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 renowned Professor Cabrol.
For people with diabetes, the first pancreatic transplants were performed in 1976. That is the topic we will focus on today—or, more precisely, the transplantation of pancreatic islets, known as Langerhans islets, which has only been authorized by the French National Authority for Health (HAS) since July 2020. Last March, Montpellier University Hospital successfully performed not its first islet transplant, but the hospital’s first isolated islet transplant, carried out by the Cell Therapy Unit (UTC).
Our two guests played a major role in this first. Orianne Villars is a physician in the Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes at Montpellier University Hospital, and Julia Sabatier is a hospital engineer in charge of the technical aspects and the laboratory that isolates these islets.
See also:
Press Release: Montpellier University Hospital Performs Its First In-House Isolated Pancreatic Islet Transplant
In the second part of the program, we’ll take you to the School of Pharmacy, where the Hydropolis building houses the technical facility for the OSU OREME’s AETE-ISO research program, which stands for “Analysis of Trace Elements in the Environment & Isotopes.” The analyses conducted at this facility, where six people work, are used for research, particularly in the fields of water, the environment, geology, materials science, bio-health, ecology, agronomy, and archaeology. We’ll be joining Rémi Freydier and Olivier Bruguier as they give us a tour.
Finally, our guest for the last three minutes is Caroline Blanvilain, associate dean of the School of Education, who is here to introduce the exhibition *Récits d’Horizon*, which runs through June 8.
AtUM , you’ve got the schedule—let’s get started!
Co-production: Divergence FM / University of Montpellier
Host: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interview: Lucie Lecherbonnier / Aline Périault
Reporting: Aline Périault
Editing: Bruno Bertrand
Director: Naomi Charmetan
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