A team from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) laboratory of Professor William Balch created the first comprehensive road map of protein interactions that enable pancreatic beta cells to produce, store and secrete the hormone insulin. One study identified and uncovered a role for TMEM24 to function in glucose stimulated insulin secretion that is disrupted in type 2 diabetes. Here, pancreatic beta cells, grown in culture, show co-localization of insulin and a newly characterized protein, TMEM24 or C2CD2L. Methods & magnification: Fluorescent immunocytochemistry, 200x blue (nucleus), red (insulin), green (TMEM24), yellow (merge).

Image by Anita Pottekat, Balch lab, TSRI.