Staff: Adele Costabile & Astrid Hauge-Evans; PhD student Kittiwadee Sarnsamak
This interdisciplinary project aims to determine potential effects of specific coffee compounds and some of their metabolites, alone and combined, on pancreatic beta cell survival under normal conditions and when exposed to cellular stressors characteristic of the development of type 2 diabetes. Additionally, this study explores whether the compounds modulate stimulated insulin secretion from pancreatic beta cells. Pathways of impact of this work provide the foundation for further in vivo animal studies and may inform the design of potential intervention studies in humans involving the specifically identified active components in coffee, thus ultimately leading to direct benefits for patients with T2D.