Our research projects

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.

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.

Closed loop technology holds the potential to transform diabetes management and outcomes for people with type 2 who use insulin. But so far, studies testing the technology have mainly involved White people and those with higher incomes. Dr Boughton will address this by testing closed loop systems with a more diverse and representation population. She’ll interview people from ethnic minority and low-income backgrounds, along with healthcare professionals, to explore their experiences and develop tailored information and support. This will help to make sure people from all backgrounds can benefit from this technology in the future. 

People with diabetes are at risk of many complications because high blood sugar levels can damage their tiny blood vessels. Even though every person develops complications differently, there are no personalised treatments. Dr Zampetaki will test a new technology, which makes copies of a person’s blood vessels in the lab, to see which drugs best prevent blood vessel damage for them. This could help to personalise care to each individual with diabetes and accelerate the development of new complications treatments. 

As some people living with type 1 diabetes benefit from hybrid closed loop, they still need to count carbs and adjust insulin doses at meals. Professor Roman Hovorka’s team is developing a fully automated system that hopes to reduce these demands and act more like a true ‘artificial pancreas’. They’re investigating why their current fully closed loop system works for some people with type 1 but not for others. They hope to optimise their technology so that more people could benefit from and access it in the future.

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. 

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. 

Pregnant women with diabetes have a higher chance of their babies being born with heart problems. Dr Chivers is researching the factors that can cause this and also better ways of working out which babies are at greatest risk. In the future, this could help give better care to pregnant women with diabetes and their babies. 

Weight loss surgery can be a really effective way to lose weight and treat type 2 diabetes. But we don’t understand much about the impact of surgery on pregnancy. Professor Tricia Tan wants to figure out if one particular type of weight loss surgery is linked to a smoother pregnancy and birth. She’ll also look for better ways of diagnosing gestational diabetes in women who’ve had weight loss surgery. The findings could lead to safer pregnancies in women living with obesity, type 2 or gestational diabetes and healthier babies.

Type 1 diabetes distress is very common, and can make living with the condition incredibly difficult. But we currently don’t have an effective treatment for it in the UK. Prof Jackie Sturt wants to develop and test a programme, called D-stress, designed to prevent, detect and manage diabetes distress. This vital research could help more people with type 1 diabetes to get the emotional support they need to live more happily with the condition.