Our research projects

Diabetes kidney disease mostly affects older people with type 2 diabetes. It can progress over time until the kidneys stop working and can result in further serious complications, like heart attack or stroke. Professor Dasgupta’s team will find out whether a prompt, which appears on computer screens, could improve how doctors give advice to older people with type 2 and kidney disease. And if this better guidance could help to slow kidney damage, helping people live healthier, happier lives. 

People living with type 2 diabetes have a higher risk of developing serious heart and blood vessel problems. Growing evidence suggests this may in part be driven by long‑lasting inflammation in the body, but we don’t know what triggers this.  

Professor Squires and his PhD student will investigate whether substances produced by gut bacteria could be the missing link, offering new clues into the development of cardiovascular complications and how to stop them.  

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

The ELSA study will screen 60,000 children using simple blood tests. This will give us vital insights that could help lead to a routine, widespread type 1 diabetes screening programme in the UK. Screening can help to make sure families are forewarned and prepared, so a type 1 diabetes diagnosis doesn't have to start with a crisis. It could also give children the opportunity to access new treatments that delay the need for insulin therapy. Find out more and sign up. 

Sometimes insulin can cause cells to multiply rather than bringing down blood sugar levels. This can increase the risk of some cancers in people with diabetes. Prof Nia Bryant wants to better understand how and why insulin can have this effect. With her PhD student, she will pinpoint the specific areas on cells that causes insulin to lower blood sugars and not to tell cells to multiply. In the future, this could help scientists develop new treatments for people with diabetes that aren’t linked with an increased risk of cancer.

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.

Studies in labs show that breaking up sitting time could help people with type 1 diabetes lower their blood sugar levels. Dr Katie Hesketh and her team will test this with people in their day-to-day lives for the first time. This could give people with type 1 diabetes a simple and practical way to manage their condition and lower their risk of developing complications. 

Polypharmacy is when people are prescribed multiple medications at the same time. It’s common in people with diabetes, and while it can be helpful in many ways, it can also throw up challenges. Professor David McAllister wants to shed more light on polypharmacy in people with diabetes. He’ll study health records and interview people with diabetes and healthcare professionals to understand their experiences. This clearer picture could help to develop approaches to reduce polypharmacy and its harm. 

A potential transformative treatment for type 1 diabetes is to replace insulin-making beta cells that have been destroyed with new ones, so that people can make their own insulin again. Professor Shanta Persaud is testing a new and improved method to grow new beta cells in the lab from stem cells. Having an unlimited supply of lab-made beta cells would bring us closer to a cure for type 1 diabetes, and this project could see us get there sooner. 

Antidepressant drugs have been found to help lower blood sugar levels in people living with type 2 diabetes and depression. Dr Liu’s team want to explore whether the drugs can protect insulin-producing beta cells, and how they do this. In the future, this could help scientists to repurpose antidepressants to open the door to new ways to treat type 1 or type 2 diabetes. 

Type 3c diabetes develops because of damage to the pancreas. It often goes misdiagnosed and there’s no tailored treatment or care for people living with it. Professor James Shaw is testing existing drugs to see if they could help to repair the pancreas and boost insulin production. This research could pave the way for more effective treatments, helping those with type 3c diabetes better manage their blood sugar levels.