Other leading scientists leave the details of basic research to graduate students or postdocs, but Melton spends as much time as possible working at a private lab bench adjacent to his office. He prefers to do his lab research alone because he does not want any distractions. Melton's ultimate goal is to discover how embryonic stem cells grow into special cells called islets in the pancreas. Islets produce insulin in a healthy person but shut down and stop functioning in someone who has diabetes.