Our research projects

People living with insulin resistance can help to manage their blood sugar levels by making healthier food choices. But a hormone called oxytocin has been found to play a part in the foods we tend to prefer. Dr John Menzies wants to find out more about the link between oxytocin and insulin resistance. Understanding how different hormone levels change in diabetes will help researchers to develop new treatments helping people to make healthier food choices. 

It’s possible to identify people who are very likely to develop type 1 diabetes by looking for signs in the blood that indicate the immune system has started to plan an attack on the pancreas. Professor Parth Narendran is exploring how a programme to test children for these signs and find out their risk of type 1 diabetes would best work in the UK.

The ELSA study will screen 20,000 children using a simple blood test. Screening can help to make sure children have the earliest, safest diagnosis possible. And children found to be at risk could be eligible for trials of promising new treatments. ELSA will give us vital insights that could help lead to a routine, widespread type 1 diabetes screening programme in the UK.

The bacteria living in our gut play an important role in our health, and could have a hand in the development of type 2 diabetes. Professor Dumas will study the gut bacteria of people who are at high risk of type 2 diabetes to discover which species of bacteria could be involved in either increase or reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. This could help scientists to develop new treatments that change the makeup of our gut bacteria and help to prevent type 2 diabetes.

In Type 2 diabetes, muscle and fat cells become unable to take in glucose from the blood – causing blood sugar levels to rise. Professor Bryant believes that a molecule called ‘cellugyrin’ is involved in helping glucose to enter fat and muscle cells, but that it may not work properly in people with Type 2 diabetes. This research will help us find out more about the underlying processes of how Type 2 develops, so we can find new ways to treat it.

Researching fat cells provides a chance to better understand the link between insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. A substance in the blood called ADMA changes how fat cells work. Dr Salt is going to compare ADMA in fat cells of humans and mice to understand why this happens. This could open the door to new ways of preventing or treating type 2 diabetes. 

Type 2 diabetes is linked to a higher risk of dementia. Dr Fiona McLean wants to investigate whether a build-up of iron in the brain caused by high blood sugar levels could be responsible. By untangling these links, Dr McLean’s research could help scientists to develop urgently needed new treatments that can improve the lives of people with diabetes and reduce the risk of the devastating effects of dementia.

Access to diabetes technology isn’t the same for everyone living with type 1. Prof May Ng wants to explore how ethnicity and where people live can affect whether children and young people use tech. Finding and addressing unfair gaps in accessing tech will help all young people to manage their diabetes better, no matter their background. 

Type 2 diabetes can come with an increased risk of cardiovascular problems affecting the heart and blood vessels. Professor Stephen Wheatcroft wants to test ‘recipes’ for new molecules that can protect against these issues, and also treat type 2 diabetes. This could help researchers to develop new treatments for type 2 diabetes that also lower the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Established in 2011, ADDRESS-2 is a database of information from of people newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes who have agreed to be involved in research. This new funding will continue to support the program and allow the team recruit more people. The team will work with the type 1 diabetes Immunotherapy Consortium to increase the number of people recruited into immunotherapy trials. These trials aim to find new ways to prevent, or cure, type 1 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes develops when insulin-producing beta cells stop working correctly. Two proteins related to the health of these cells have been identified. Professor Calum Sutherland wants to examine how changing the levels and activity of these proteins affects the health of the beta cells and the amount of insulin they release. Better understanding of the role these proteins play in insulin production could leads to new treatments for people with type 2 diabetes or to prevent the condition in those at risk.