I have worked on understanding type 2 diabetes for quite a while now. One of the topics that I have worked a lot on is how genetics could impact on diabetes risk. I have done a lot of work on one particular gene- called TCF7L2- which was identified as a risk gene for type 2 diabetes in the population. In fact TCF7L2 is the top risk gene identified in over 20 years of this type of research. I have published a fair bit on what TCF7L2 does in the insulin producing cells. In a nut shell, losing TCF7L2 gene function has huge implications on the ability of the insulin producing cells to function properly and for us to have adequate numbers of insulin producing cells to help us control blood glucose levels.
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