Switching on only one gene allowed pancreatic cells to produce insulin in mice Progenitor cells (left) became insulin-producing cells (right) © Collombat, Mansouri / MPIbpc Read out Diabetes can be cured by insulin-producing replacement cells - that's the hope of many physicians. Now researchers have come a great deal closer to this Zeil: They switched a single gene in the pancreatic cells in diabetic mice and turned these so insulin-producing cells.