Modeling intra-cellular insulin transport dynamics in pancreatic Beta cells

In this talk, I will discuss the role of cytoskeletal-mediated transport (by microtubules) in regulating insulin dynamics in pancreatic cells. Due to the increasing prevalence of diabetes and related disorders, understanding how individual cells regulate insulin availability and secretion in response to glucose stimulation is of utmost importance. While it has been known for decades that dysregulated microtubule dynamics alter insulin secretion, their role in insulin regulation has been murky. Here I use computational modeling to demonstrate a new mechanism by which apparently random trafficking of insulin on a random network of microtubules regulates the intra-cellular localization and availability of insulin. These results demonstrate that microtubule mediated trafficking negatively regulates insulin secretion. Accompanying experiments confirm this hypothesis and demonstrate the potential for targeting of microtubule dynamics to provide a new avenue to manipulate insulin secretion.