New funding for type one diabetes study

A new study into the causes of type one diabetes has been awarded over £3 million of funding.

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) received the grant for a new research centre, called the JDRF Centre for Diabetes Genes, Autoimmunity and Prevention (D-GAP).

It will attempt to investigate the causes of type one diabetes over the next five years with the aim of developing future prevention therapies for the condition.

D-GAP will bring together diabetes experts from King's College, London, and professors from the Universities of Cambridge and Bristol. The researchers plan to take samples from 4,000 people and begin measurements of white blood cells.

Karen Addington, chief executive of JDRF in the UK, said: "A key part of JDRF's research is aimed at stopping or reversing the immune system response that causes type one diabetes and D-GAP could provide the answers needed to achieve that."

Charity Diabetes UK recently said that an estimated 650,000 people with type two diabetes are not taking their prescribed medicine.