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Current research projects

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Shareen Forbes
Cure Treatment

Boosting islet survival after transplantation using immune cells

Professor Shareen Forbes is investigating whether giving certain immune cells with islet transplants can help the islets survive in the recipient and reduce the need for immune-suppressing drugs.

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Professor Yanick Crow
Prevention

Understanding the role of interferon in autoimmunity

Connect Immune Research has launched a first-of-its-kind research project to confront the UK’s high prevalence of autoimmune conditions.

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Professor Alexander Midas
Treatment

Testing a new treatment to lower blood glucose in people with type 1

Professor Alexander Miras is investigating whether alpha-melanocyte stimulatory hormone (α-MSH) can lower blood sugar levels in people with type 1.

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Daniel Doherty
Treatment

Improving islet transplants to treat type 1 diabetes

Daniel Doherty’s research project aims to make islet transplants last longer and work better to benefit more people with type 1.

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Professor Kourosh Saeb-Parsy
Prevention

Analysing pancreas biology to enable early detection of type 1 diabetes

Lead researcher, Kourosh, says his study has the potential to transform our understanding of diabetes.

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Dr Leslie Johnson
Treatment

Improving mental health and blood glucose management in people with type 1 diabetes and depression

Dr Leslie Johnson will explore whether a collaborative care model that is effective for type 2 diabetes can be adapted for people with type 1.

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Dr Chloe Rackham
Treatment

Can islet helper cells in the pancreas treat type 1 diabetes?

Dr Chloe Rackham is investigating how supportive cells called mesenchymal stem cells may help protect people from developing type 1.

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Dr Ify Mordi, lead type 1 diabetes researcher
Complications Treatment

The SOPHIST Trial: sotagliflozin for people with type 1 and heart failure

Dr Ify Mordi is an expert in heart disease and diabetes at the University of Dundee. We are funding Ify to run the first clinical trial of the drug sotagliflozin in people living with type 1 diabetes and heart failure.

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Professor Richard Oram
Prevention

Calculating a type 1 diabetes risk score 

In his JDRF-funded project, Dr Richard Oram is developing a type 1 diabetes risk score to predict who will develop type 1 diabetes in the future. The research Richard and his team at the University of Exeter are doing will help how we screen people for type 1.

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Professor Tim Tree
Treatment

Supporting clinical trials of ustekinumab

We are funding Professor Timothy Tree and his team at King’s College London to support clinical trials of ustekinumab in young people recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. The team is analysing blood samples from people taking part in the clinical trials USTEKID and UST1D2.

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Professor Paul Johnson
Treatment

Supplying researchers with pancreas samples from donors

The Human Islet Isolation Facility provides researchers with pancreas samples from donors with and without diabetes. We have been funding the centre since 2009. The current funding is for Professor Paul Johnson and his team to continue to run the Human Islet Isolation Facility at the University of Oxford. Their goal is to supply 1 million pancreatic islets to research each year​.

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Dr Emma Berry
Treatment

A digital psychosocial wellbeing tool for young people with type 1

Dr Emma Berry is working with young people affected by type 1 to develop a digital psychosocial wellbeing screening and monitoring tool at Queen’s University Belfast. Once complete, Emma hopes diabetes clinicians will use her tool to support young people at their diabetes appointments.

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Professor Lucy Walker
Prevention

Stopping immune cells from launching an autoimmune attack

Professor Lucy Walker from University College London is running a research project to target a specific type of immune cell in the hope of stopping the immune attack responsible for type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune conditions.

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Dr Rocio Sancho, type 1 diabetes beta cells researcher at Kings College London
Cure

Creating a more human-like environment to grow beta cells

Dr Rocio Sancho is a leading a team of researchers at Kings College London, thanks to a grant from JDRF. Rocio’s research team are trying to grow better insulin-producing beta cells in their lab by enhancing the gel they grow them in.

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Tim Barrett
Treatment

Testing a drug for type 2 diabetes in people with type 1

Professor Timothy Barrett is a Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Birmingham. Thanks to a generous donation from Steve and Sally Morgan in 2019, Timothy is running a trial to try to find out whether a drug used to treat type 2 diabetes can also be used to treat type 1.

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Alex Richter
Prevention

Improving screening tests for type 1 diabetes

Professor Alex Richter is a JDRF-funded researcher at the University of Birmingham who is developing an improved test to screen children for type 1 diabetes in the UK. Her new test will be more accurate and easier to use than the existing testing systems, which she hopes will encourage more people to get screened for type 1.

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Parth Narendran
Prevention

The ELSA Study: Screening UK children for type 1 diabetes

Professor Parth Narendran Parth and his team will screen 20,000 children aged 3-13 across the UK for type 1. The ELSA Study will provide crucial insights into practical and effective ways to screen large numbers of children in the UK, laying the groundwork for a potential UK-wide screening programme.

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Dr Nicholas Thomas
Treatment

Can measuring insulin release help correctly diagnose diabetes?

The symptoms of type 1 and type 2 diabetes can overlap in adults, which leads to misdiagnoses. Dr Nicholas Thomas wants to find out whether a simple test to measure someone’s C-peptide levels can help prevent misdiagnoses.

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Professor Colin Dayan at Cardiff University, working on immunotherapy for type 1 diabetes cure research
Treatment

A clinical trials platform testing multiple drugs to treat type 1 diabetes

Thanks to funding from JDRF, Professor Colin Dayan at Cardiff University is setting up a clinical trials platform called T1D Plus. Seven different treatments have already been shown in clinical trials to slow the autoimmune process that attacks beta cells, leading to type 1.

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Dr Joanne Boldison at the University of Exeter
Treatment

Studying a type of immune cell to develop drugs to target it

Dr Joanne Boldison is a researcher at the University of Exeter who is studying a type of immune cell called B lymphocytes, known as B-cells for short. She thinks they may be involved developing type 1 diabetes and could be a target for potential treatments for type 1 diabetes.

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Dr Fiona Doherty, a type 1 diabetes cure researcher, working on beta cells research, in her lab.
Cure

Growing beta cells in the lab from stem cells

We have awarded Dr Fiona Docherty from the University of Birmingham funding to grow insulin-producing beta cells from stem cells, which can divide and grow forever and can make any cell type in the body.

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Dr Craig Beall
Treatment

Developing new drugs to combat hypoglycaemia in type 1 diabetes

Dr Beall’s research will test whether new drugs developed and made at the University of Exeter can reduce the risk of a severe hypo by restoring the body’s ability to sense hypoglycaemia.

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Dr Gavin Bewick, a type 1 diabetes researcher working on developing a drug to protect beta cells, in his lab.
Cure

Developing a drug to protect insulin-producing beta cells

Dr Gavin Bewick is a researcher at King’s College London whose research focuses on the cells in the pancreas which produce and release insulin, the beta cells. He is currently developing a drug to protect these beta cells.

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A type 1 diabetes researcher on Dr Rocio Sancho's team, working in the lab
Cure

What conditions are best for growing beta cells from stem cells?

This project is looking at a new way to turn stem cells into beta cells in the lab, to better understand what conditions make this process happen efficiently.

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Dr Gavin Bewick, a type 1 diabetes cure researcher, working on a project around beta cells and the immune system, in his lab.
Cure

Protecting beta cells from the immune system

Dr Bewick is exploring ways to improve the health, performance and number of beta cells in the body, so that people with type 1 can be less reliant on insulin pumps and injections – or even, one day, live without them completely.

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Professor Colin Dayan at Cardiff University
Cure

Better immunotherapy clinical trials for type 1 diabetes

This project aims to overcome two major roadblocks to developing and licensing immunotherapies for people newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

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Professor Colin Dayan at Cardiff University, working on immunotherapy for type 1 diabetes cure research
Cure

Bigger, smarter, faster research into immunotherapy for type 1 diabetes

This award will help to fund the next generation of immunotherapy research, enabling more efficient clinical trials, in more locations, so that promising treatments can reach people sooner.