May 27, 2008

can we ever cure Type 1 diabetes?

Speakers:
Prof Polly Bingley, Professor of Diabetes, University of Bristol
Prof John Todd, Professor of Medical Genetics, University of Cambridge
Prof Mark Peakman, Professor of Clinical Immunology, King’s College London School of Medicine

Type 1 diabetes affects about 350,000 people in the UK, 20,000 of them children. The latest research shows that there are many different genes associated with Type 1 diabetes, making this condition even harder to understand. Experts are going to collaborate in a huge multi-million pound project called the Centre for Diabetes Genes, Autoimmunity and Prevention (D-GAP), and some of the leading experts involved with the project came to the SMC to talk about key issues including the need for screening and the possibility of a cure.