IRISH researchers have won EU funding to "revolutionise" the treatment of patients with Type 1 diabetes.
The NUI Galway coordinated Deliver programme will train six scientists in the field of insulin producing cell transplantation.
It has secured €1.6 million in EU Horizon 2020 funding.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas are mistakenly destroyed by the body's immune system.
Without insulin production the body has trouble regulating its blood-sugar levels. Type 1 diabetes can be diagnosed early in life but also in adulthood. Its causes are not fully known, and there is currently no cure. People with this form of diabetes are dependent on injected or pumped insulin to survive.
The Deliver programme will develop new strategies to deliver pancreatic insulin producing cells.
The research will be led by Professor Garry Duffy from the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences.
"We are delighted to lead the Deliver programme and to continue to translate new collaborative research for the benefit of patients with Type 1 diabetes," he said.
"We are also excited to train the next generation of researchers in this area, and to give them the industrial skills necessary to have real patient impact. Regenerative medicine and stem cell therapies have the potential to revolutionise the treatment of patients who have Type 1 diabetes, and through Deliver we will develop new technologies to enhance stem cell therapies for these patients by improving the longevity of the implants."
