Our research projects

High blood sugar levels can damage blood vessels, and over time this can lead to diabetes complications. Professor David Long will enhance a pioneering new way of growing blood vessels in the lab to study how they behave in diabetes. Understanding what happens to blood vessels in high sugar levels could help researchers to develop new treatments that prevent or slow all sorts of complications. 

People with type 2 diabetes have a higher risk of depression. And people with depression have a higher risk of type 2. But there’s lots we don’t understand about how exactly the two conditions are connected. Dr Tyrrell wants to unravel more about the complicated relationship between the conditions and the impact of living with both type 2 and depression on health. This could lead to better ways to treat people with both conditions.

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.

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. 

High blood sugar levels can lead to damage to our eyes, known as retinopathy. Professor Karl Matter thinks that a protein called MarvelD3, which helps cells to stick together in blood vessels, might hold some answers. His research could give us valuable new insights to help develop innovative approaches to protect blood vessels and prevent sight loss in people with diabetes.

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.

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. 

In many types of diabetes, insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas become stressed and damaged. Professor Terence Herbert has found that a group of molecules called RNA binding proteins (RBPs) may play an important role in helping beta cells survive this stress. In this project, his PhD student will explore how these proteins work and whether they could help protect beta cells and to prevent or slow the progress of diabetes.

People from Black African and Caribbean and South Asian backgrounds are at a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes and some of its complications than White people. Professor Daniel Cuthbertson will look at differences in body fat stores and insulin response among people from these ethnic groups to uncover biological factors that can contribute to the development of type 2. This could lead to tailored support and treatments to prevent and manage type 2 diabetes based on your ethnicity.

Gestational diabetes can increase the risk of mothers developing type 2 diabetes and heart problems later in life. It could also damage the placenta, which can pose a threat to babies in the womb. These problems might be due to a decrease in specialist immune cells during gestational diabetes. Dr Cristiano Scotta is developing a better way to study the placenta in the lab. His approach could potentially help to develop new treatments that better protect mothers and their babies during and after pregnancy.