Diabetes

Diabetes is a major cause of heart disease, kidney failure and blindness in the UK.  Rising obesity levels – the major health issue of our time - are fuelling rising diabetes levels everywhere, including more cases in children and adolescence.

Several of our investigators are internationally recognised for their work and current programmes and research interests include:

• treatment and prevention of obesity
• examination of importance of new risk factors / pathways for type 2 diabetes e.g. role of liver fat, inflammatory factors
• investigation of why South Asians have a much higher risk for diabetes despite lower average weights
• examination of how insulin resistance works on a molecular level
• study on the influence of exercise in treatment of insulin resistance
• and investigation of the long term outcomes for children of pregnancy complicated by diabetes

These areas of research represent collaborative efforts across the College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences.

The University, along with partner universities in Scotland and the NHS, is also a key collaborator and recruitment site for the Generation Scotland project: a Scotland-wide family based study aiming to understand the genetic causes of common complex diseases including type 2 diabetes.  The University is also collaborating with colleagues in the UK on the ALSPAC cohort which is the largest prospective study of children anywhere, to improve understanding of life course factors related to diabetes risk.

A gift to the Medical Fund to further research into diabetes will help us to understand how the disease works, how it can be avoided, and what better treatment options are possible.