Our research projects

Scientists can grow new insulin-producing beta cells in the lab, but they don’t work as well as ‘real’ beta cells. Dr Ildem Akerman will test out a new way to improve how we make lab-grown beta cells, she hopes this will make them work better and be more responsive to changes in blood sugar. In the future, we hope lab-grown beta cells could be transplanted into people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes to replace the cells that have been destroyed or stopped working, and this project could help us take a huge step towards that goal.

Professor Timothy Tree and researchers across the UK will set up a network of specialist labs to examine samples from all UK-based trials of immunotherapies for type 1 diabetes. They will carry out state-of-the-art studies of their safety and effectiveness to understand exactly how treatments work to control the immune system, and who could benefit most from different treatments. In the future, immunotherapies could give us a way to prevent, halt and cure type 1 diabetes.

Muscle damage is a common but under-studied complication of type 2 diabetes. It reduces mobility and can affect independence. Professor Lee Roberts will explore if a drug licensed to treat problems with how the body processes iron could help to improve muscle health and quality of life. This could improve our understanding of muscle damage in people with type 2 diabetes and provide us with better ways to treat it.

Islet cell transplants for people with type 1 diabetes and severe hypos can be life-changing. But a lot of islet cells die soon after transplant, limiting the success of the treatment. Dr Caton plans to block a protein called NAMPT to see if this can improve the survival of cells after transplant. In the future, this can make islet transplants more effective and more accessible.  

The pancreas-liver-gut axis are a group of organs that work together to control blood sugar levels. Changes in blood flow in these organs have been found in type 2 diabetes. Professor Murphy plans to understand these blood flow changes better and see if they hold the answer to improving current type 2 diabetes treatments or finding new ones. 

Proteins, called GPCRs, play a role in controlling appetite and blood sugar levels. Dr Thompson wants to understand how the development of obesity and type 2 diabetes changes GPCR chemistry in the brain. Knowing this could help scientists to develop treatments that act on GPCRs to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes, giving people living with or at risk of these conditions new, urgently needed treatment options.

Scientists can test for signals made by the immune system, called autoantibodies, to help diagnose which type of diabetes someone has. And to help predict who is at risk of developing type 1 diabetes in the future. Professor Gillespie is exploring how to increase the accuracy of an autoantibody test and ready it for use in the NHS. This could lead to better ways of diagnosing and predicting type 1 and could give us new insights into the root causes of the condition. 

Having gestational diabetes can increase the risk of getting type 2 diabetes in later life for both mother and baby. Dr Bowe wants to better understand why. He will study changes in the pancreas that happen during pregnancy in women with gestational diabetes to find out if, and how, this has a lasting impact which puts mum and baby at a greater risk of type 2. This could inform new treatments to help women and their children reduce their risk and make sure fewer people get type 2 diabetes in the future.

Blood vessels in our eyes have an internal clock. Dr Eleni Beli aims to understand if and how disruptions to this clock affect how eye damage in diabetes can develop and progress. These insights could lead to life-changing new treatments that protect the sight of people with diabetes.

People with diabetes can develop problems with their feet, called neuropathy. Some people experience chronic pain alongside this, but we don’t yet know why. Professor David Bennet will use machine learning to identify risk factors for painful neuropathy and develop a ‘calculator’ that could help to spot people at risk. This research could help to develop new treatments and allow doctors to better support those at greatest risk.