More than four decades ago, Hans Sollinger lost one of his closest relatives to diabetes, an experience that strengthened his resolve to find a more effective treatment for the disease.
Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness and amputation in the United States, and 1 million patients could potentially qualify for pancreatic and kidney transplants because of the disease. About 1,000 patients end up receiving transplants each year.
Sollinger, chief of kidney transplantation at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, began his search for a long-term treatment for the affliction 20 years ago. To help him with his research, Sollinger hired Tausif Alam from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, where he had been conducting diabetes research.