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Weight loss can lead to remission of type 2 diabetes but losing weight can be difficult. Professor Jebb aims to create a new NHS support service for people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and living with overweight or obesity, so they can try out different weight loss programmes and find the one that’s right for them. This could make all the difference in giving more people the chance to go into remission.

Our brain plays an important role in assessing whether our blood sugar levels are too high or too low, so our body can bring them back into a safe range. Dr Ellacott wants to focus on a type of brain cell, called the astrocyte, to figure out they’re involved in sensing blood glucose levels. This could help us develop new treatments that target astrocytes to help people with diabetes avoid dangerous blood sugar levels.

Some people develop type 1 diabetes very quickly, but in others, the immune attack that causes type 1 diabetes progresses slowly. Professor Kathleen Gillespie and her PhD student will look for genetic differences between these groups of people to find out why this is. In the future, this could lead to life-changing treatments to delay or prevent type 1 diabetes.

In type 1 diabetes insulin-making beta cells in the pancreas are destroyed by the immune system. Dr Long will study a specific protein on beta cells that gets attacked, called zinc transporter 8. This could give scientists a better understanding of what’s happening in the immune system when the condition develops and what influences its progression. 

Diabetic foot ulcers are a common complication of all types of diabetes. Ill-fitting footwear rubbing against the foot can increase the risk of a foot ulcer developing. Dr Petra Jones wants to test the existing guidelines for good fitting footwear for people living with diabetes, to make sure they're getting the best possible advice to protect their foot health.

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.

We know that a person’s genetic makeup is important in type 2 diabetes but we don’t know exactly how they’re linked. Dr Jennings is going to study genes related to beta cell and pancreas development and the 3D switches that control them. This will give us a better understanding of why type 2 diabetes develops, which could lead to new therapies to prevent and treat it. 

People with type 2 diabetes are more likely to develop depression. This could in part be down to our genes. Professor Prokopenko plans to study changes in the GLP-1R gene and look at if and how the gene could increase the risk of both type 2 diabetes and depression. If the shared genes affect the development of both conditions it could lead to improved medications that work to treat both conditions. 

In some people, the immune attack that causes type 1 diabetes can progress slowly from childhood. In other people, it can start later in life and progress quickly. Dr Anna Long will study the immune systems of these different groups to find out why some people develop type 1 diabetes more slowly. In the future, this could lead to life-changing treatments to delay or prevent type 1 diabetes.

Resistance, or strength training can help people with type 2 diabetes to improve their blood sugar levels and health. Dr Lewis Macgregor will examine if restricting blood-flow to muscles during resistance exercise can boost its positive effects on the body – making the training more effective when using lighter weights. This could help us to make this type of exercise a more feasible option for more people with type 2 and maximise its benefits on health.