Background information
In 2003, Mijke started her study Technical Medicine at the University of Twente. After finishing the bachelor’s in 2006, she continued with her master’s degree program in Regenerative Medicine. She did clinical internships at the University Medical Center St Radboud (Nijmegen), University Medical Center Utrecht and Leiden University Medical Center. She performed her master’s thesis ‘Nano-engineered microchips for extrahepatic islet of Langerhans transplantation - A first step towards cell-based therapy in type 1 diabetes?’ at the department of Tissue Regeneration at the University of Twente and the department of Nephrology at Leiden University Medical Center. After graduation in 2009 she continued her work as a PhD student.
Current research
Although islet of Langerhans transplantation in the portal vein has proven to be an effective treatment in patients with type 1 diabetes, it still encounters several drawbacks including islet loss during transplantation and procedure-related complications. According to follow-up studies islet function declines after transplantation. Only a minority of the treated patients (~10%) maintains insulin independent. This indicates that the liver is not an optimal transplantation site. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop an alternative transplantation site for islets of Langerhans that has a more beneficial microenvironment in order to improve islet survival and engraftment.
Contact details
Mijke Buitings, MSc
Department of Developmental BioEngineering
Building Zuidhorst, Room no: ZH111
Drienerlolaan 5, PO box 217
7522NB Enschede, The Netherlands
Phone: +31-(0)53-4894285
E-mail: m.buitinga@utwente.nl