Spotlight on the News

Canada's Government & JDRF Canada Investing $33M in Research

Canada is one of ten countries with the highest rates of type 1 diabetes in the world which is projected to increase in all countries over the next two decades. The Government of Canada https://www.canada.ca in collaboration with JDRF Canada https://www.jdrf.ca is investing $33 million to support 12 research projects to help prevent, detect, manage, and treat diabetes.

Four research teams will work on precision medicine in type 1 diabetes to tailor diabetes care to each patient's specific needs and also investigate the diversity within beta cell populations.

One of the teams led by Dr. Farid Mahmud at the Hospital for Sick Children https://sickkids.ca located in Toronto is studying how differences in genes, environments, and social factors, contribute differences in diabetes outcomes for youth with type 1diabetes.

In addition, seven teams will investigate the mental, emotional, and social effects of diabetes, plus study how to prevent and manage diabetes with an emphasis on children and young adults. Four of the projects will focus on type 1 diabetes, and three projects will focus on type 2 diabetes.

The $33 million in funding will also support a national screening research consortium to be led by Dr. Diane Wherrett at the Hospital for Sick Children. The doctor is going to bring experts and people affected by diabetes to do advanced screening for early stage, pre-symptomatic type 1 diabetes in Canada.