Nearly £4 million of philanthropic funding for type 1 diabetes research in latest award from Helmsley Charitable Trust
Researchers at the University of Exeter have received almost £4 million of funding for their work in understanding type 1 diabetes.
The awards have come from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust and are the latest example of the extensive financial support Helmsley has given research projects at the University over the past nine years. To date, the Helmsley Charitable Trust has awarded $10,637,854 (£7.98 million) to research at Exeter into type 1 diabetes.
Professor Sallie Lamb, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean for the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at the University of Exeter, said: “The funding and support the Helmsley Charitable Trust has given to the University for almost a decade has been, and continues to be, vital in ensuring our world-leading research into type 1 diabetes can take place. This funding allows our researchers to continue making significant scientific breakthroughs and we would like to thank the Trust for their generous support.”
This latest funding sees $3.65 million USD (£2.76 million) being awarded to Dr Matt Johnson for his genetic research into discovering new drug targets in type 1 diabetes. Meanwhile, Professor Richard Oram has been awarded $1.50 million USD (£1.13 million) for the third phase of his research to understand type 1 diabetes that presents in infants.
Dr Johnson’s work aims to discover new genetic factors that affect the development and pathology of type 1 diabetes, which could help predict disease and identify therapies to delay disease progression. To do this Dr Johnson and his team will generate and analyse genomic data from around 12,000 individuals with and without type 1 diabetes from diverse study cohorts in the UK and Middle East.
Dr Johnson said: “Type 1 diabetes is the most common chronic disease in children and significantly reduces healthy lifespan for the almost ten million people living with the condition around the world. These projects are allowing us to dive into the mechanisms and, for the first time, comprehensively look at the genetic factors that drive type 1 diabetes development, with Exeter as a major partner in a global effort to identify new druggable targets to prevent the disease.
“The continued support from the Helmsley Charitable Trust has been transformative in our ability to do these large-scale projects. This has already led us to identify new genetic causes of type 1 diabetes, discovering type 1 diabetes can develop even in the first weeks of life, and providing new insights into the dysregulation of the immune system in type 1 diabetes.”
Professor Oram’s project aims to understand type 1 diabetes in rare individuals with extremely early onset of diabetes by recruiting participants diagnosed before the age of two and studying their genetic, immunological, and historical features. This research may also reveal therapeutically relevant discoveries that can be generally applied to those with typical type 1 diabetes, developing later in childhood, as well.
Ben Williams, Program Officer at the Helmsley Charitable Trust, said: “At Helmsley, we are committed to supporting innovative research with the potential to improve the lives of people with or at risk of type 1 diabetes. These projects at University of Exeter hold promise to help advance our understanding of disease mechanisms – which is critical to developing new therapeutics.”
