15 April 2013

Diabetes Research Campaign successfully raises £3M towards discovering the cause of diabetes and developing new treatments

* Photocall/interview opportunity: 11am, Monday April 15th, Strathmore Diabetes Centre, Ninewells Hospital

* Professor Andrew Morris and Michael Archibald, Chair of the fundraising campaign, will be available for interview

A £3million fundraising campaign to support world-class diabetes research at the University of Dundee has surpassed its target figure.

The Diabetes Research Campaign was launched in 2007 to help support the development of research into the cause and treatment of diabetes. The campaign has now drawn to a close, with £3.5million raised directly and a further £11million secured in follow-on funding.

Chair of the Campaign, Michael Archibald, a well known Perth businessman, said, "In completing the funding towards this campaign I would like to thank all those who gave of their time, effort and money towards diabetic research in Tayside.

"From swimming across the Tay, to concerts in the new Perth Concert Hall to holding marathons in Dundee, so many people and organisations became more involved in moving our fund along until it reached its total.

"Everyone has helped us achieve a goal that required a tremendous community effort and as a Diabetic I thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for their interest in what is still a very worrying and difficult condition."

The Scottish Diabetes Survey last year showed there were 247,248 people with diabetes in Scotland. This represents nearly 5% of the population and indicates that the number of people who are developing diabetes in Scotland is increasing dramatically. Rates of both type 2 diabetes, which usually affects people over the age of 40, and type 1 diabetes, which usually affects children and young adults, are increasing for reasons that are still not completely known. Overall, the number of people with diabetes is rising by around 10,000 each year, and this has resulted in significant organisational demands and health-care costs to the NHS.

The University of Dundee is developing a world-class research programme focusing on the cause and treatment of diabetes. In 2007 the Diabetes Research Campaign was launched with an ambitious target to raise £3M to help achieve this aim. The Diabetes Research Campaign hoped to improve clinical research facilities at the Perth Royal Infirmary and in Dundee at Ninewells Hospital & Medical School, and to create a dedicated Diabetes Translational Research Institute equipped with state of the art equipment. This Institute would be tasked with taking research from the lab bench to the bedside, 'translating' basic science in the laboratory into better treatment for patients with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.

The success of the Diabetes Research Campaign - and of the physicians and scientists - ensured that the University of Dundee achieved its 2007 goal of becoming an international centre of excellence for research into Diabetes.

Facilities for clinical research in patients in Perth were vastly improved via the creation of the Gannochy Trust Clinical Research Suite at Perth Royal Infirmary in 2010. This innovative research facility operates as a satellite of the Clinical Research Centre at Ninewells Hospital, improving accessibility to clinical research for patients in Perthshire and offering both established and new researchers at Perth Royal Infirmary the same benefits of first class facilities and expert support staff that are available in Dundee. During its second year of operation the Gannochy Suite has accommodated 19 clinical research studies and five new studies generating several million in research income.

At Ninewells a generous grant from the NHS Endowment Fund led to the creation of new patient rooms in the Strathmore Diabetes Centre. This means that many more people with diabetes are able to take part in a wide range of clinical studies, from genetic research through to new drug trials. As the research suite is based within the Strathmore Diabetes Centre, patients are comfortable with attending for research visits in familiar surroundings and the research nurses have the back up of the wider diabetes multidisciplinary team should they require any additional support. The rooms are used on a daily basis.

Campaign funds were used to fit out a dedicated Diabetes Translational Research Institute including costs to accommodate Dr Rory McCrimmon on his recruitment from the University from Yale, and the creation of a cutting edge research infrastructure with the purchase of laboratory and specialist equipment and support to extend clinical research in Type 1&2 diabetes.

Vital state of the art imaging equipment is used by more than 10 research groups and is in operation almost every day. This forms a key feature of the Diabetes Research support infrastructure.

Dr Rory McCrimmon heads up a Type 1 diabetes research team and its work has been instrumental in bringing us closer to find a cure for Diabetes. He said, "Until we do find the cure - which is very much a when and not an if - we are passionate about developments in treatments which minimise the complications for people who have type 1 diabetes. We are proud that, with research projects like this, Scotland is fast becoming the centre for research into type 1 diabetes."

With the support of funds raised through the Diabetes Research Campaign, scientists at the University of Dundee have made major contributions to the understanding of diabetes, including:

• Leading international clinical trials that will help to 'individualise' care in diabetes, working out the best treatments for each individual.
• Leading the Scottish Diabetes Research Network to improve our understanding of all people with diabetes in Scotland and improve standards of care.
• Working out how insulin regulates glucose metabolism and why it fails to do so in type 2 diabetes.
• Identifying several new proteins that are targets for the development of new drugs to treat diabetes.
• Discovering the enzyme (acronym AMPK) that is targeted by Metformin (Glucophage), the drug that is used most commonly to treat Type 2 diabetes.
• Working with pharmaceutical companies to develop new 'lead' compounds for the treatment of diabetes, based on novel insights on glucose metabolism, such as targeting GSK3, an enzyme discovered in Dundee, that has been shown to reduce glucose levels in diabetic animal models.
• Carrying out research to identify and characterise the key genes that predispose people to diabetes. Thousands of people in Tayside have participated in studies led by Professor Andrew Morris and his team at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee - this has led to multiple discoveries of the genetic causes of diabetes.
• Dundee's track record in diabetes research means scientists are being given a greater opportunity to develop better and more effective treatments for diabetes and establish pioneering approaches to patient care. The collaborative nature of the research in Dundee, bringing together scientists working in the laboratory and doctors working with patients, makes it more likely that innovative science can be translated into novel therapies that have a major and direct impact on people's lives.

For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07800 581902