Remarkable research pointing to a potential new treatment for diabetes was announced this week at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Scientists succeeded in transforming spermatogonal stem cells, early precursors of sperm cells, into insulin-secreting cells. It is likely that the work represents significant progress in accomplishing the Holy Grail of diabetes research, the replacement of insulin-secreting cells lost to the disease.In type I diabetes, the early onset form of the disease that often occurs in young children, cells of the pancreas called islet cells or beta cells, which normally secrete insulin, are lost due to autoimmunity. The...