Our research projects

Our scientists have shown that some adults with type 2 diabetes can go into remission through a low-calorie weight management programme. Dr Sachdev will now explore if the same approach is possible in children with type 2 diabetes. This could lead to a much-needed new treatment that gives children with type 2 the chance to go into remission and the opportunity for a healthier future.  

Losing sensation in the feet is one of the most common diabetes complications. It's often diagnosed too late and, in the most serious cases, can result in amputation. So it is vitally important to find a way to predict who’s at risk as soon as possible. Professor Robyn Tapp is testing whether photos taken at the annual eye screening for people with diabetes could be used as an early warning system to identify people at high risk of foot problems, and prevent complications.

Gestational diabetes develops during pregnancy. People can experience high levels of stigma linked to the condition, which can have a negative effect on their mental and physical health. Dr Rita Forde and Prof Angus Forbes will work with women who have experience of gestational diabetes and healthcare professionals. Together, they'll develop communication tools that aim raise awareness of and combat gestational diabetes- related stigma. 

Lower levels of vitamin C have been linked with obesity and an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Professor Jon Whitehead will explore how vitamin C gets into fats cells and if more vitamin C inside these cells helps insulin to work better. Understanding this could help us find out if vitamin C supplements could become a new strategy to help treat type 2 diabetes in the future.

Disruptions to our body clock can have a surprising impact on our health, including links with eye damage for people living with diabetes. Dr Eleni Beli wants to take a closer look at these links, to understand more about how eye damage can develop and progress. Her research could uncover an innovative new approach to help people with diabetes avoid sight loss.

Eighty per cent of people living with diabetes take medications to treat their condition. Professor Helen Colhoun will look at the health records of everyone with diabetes in Scotland to learn more about the effectiveness and safety of different diabetes medications when they’re used in the real word. This could pick up any missed safety concerns or benefits that weren’t spotted in clinical trials and transform how diabetes drugs are prescribed. In doing so, this could reduce the number of people living with diabetes who experience harmful side effects, making their care safer and more personalised. 

Women living with type 1 diabetes and their babies can be at a higher risk of difficulties during pregnancy and birth. Professor Claire Meek wants to see whether levels of a molecule found in the blood can help to predict a high-risk pregnancy. Being able to spot potential problems in advance could help women with type 1 and their babies to get the tailored care they need to avoid these problems.

The brain has an important role in measuring and controlling blood sugar levels. In people with diabetes this can go wrong when the brain chooses a level that’s too high. Dr Clemence Blouet wants to find out if there’s a way of developing new treatments that can reprogramme the brain to keep blood sugar at safer levels.

There are a number of inherited genetic conditions causing very low body fat stores. One of these is congenital generalised lipodystrophy type 2 which can also lead to type 2 diabetes. Dr McIlroy’s shown that gene therapy can treat this condition so he’s now going to study it in more detail. He’s hoping this knowledge will lead to better treatments for type 2 diabetes. 

There’s evidence that common viral infections in children may play a part in triggering the immune system attack at the root of type 1 diabetes. But we don’t yet understand how or why only some children are affected. Dr Kasra Bahadori will study children’s immune responses to uncover missing pieces of the puzzle, with the aim of developing treatments that could prevent viruses from triggering type 1 diabetes.