Our resource hub is home to a wealth of articles, stories and videos about managing and living with type 1 diabetes.
Place your order for our free information packs that support adults and children who have been recently diagnosed.
Our researchers are working on different ways to develop a cure for type 1 diabetes - from growing insulin-producing beta cells in labs to hacking the immune system.
Learn about the technologies that can deliver insulin automatically when needed. And discover the next generation of insulins that are currently being developed.
You could win a cash prize of up to £25,000 when you play the Breakthrough T1D lottery. As well as the chance to win great prizes, you’ll also help fund our research to find a cure for type 1 diabetes.
Our volunteers generously give us their time, skills and experience to tell people about our work, and to help us raise vital funds for research into better treatments and ultimately a cure for T1D.
Our ambitious new roadmap is aimed at driving significant advancements in type 1 diabetes research, treatment, and care.
Your donation helps support people living with type 1 diabetes and funds the best treatment and cure research.
We provide a wealth of information and free resources to help you support and empower your patients or students.
Take our free course for schools to learn more about supporting pupils with type 1 diabetes in educational settings.
Home > News & events > News > Breakthrough T1D-funded researcher wins Nobel Prize
Professor Baker’s Nobel Prize acknowledges his work in discovering a way to create new proteins that have never existed before. These proteins can potentially be used to treat conditions like type 1 diabetes (T1D).
Proteins are made up of various combinations of 20 different ‘building blocks’ called amino acids. In 2003, Professor Baker succeeded in using these building blocks to design a completely unique protein. Since then, his team of researchers have continued to create imaginative new proteins which can be used as medicines, vaccines, and tiny sensors.
In 2016, we recognised the potential application of this to T1D and awarded Professor Baker two grants, funding him to use a computer model to create new, glucose-responsive insulin (GRI). He designed a tiny glucose-responsive protein that can be added to existing long-acting forms of insulin to give them the ability to turn on at high glucose levels and off again once they are lowered.
GRIs are a type of novel (new) insulin, which can detect and respond to changing blood glucose levels, which could help relieve the burden of glucose monitoring. GRI is designed to be administered, lay waiting in the blood stream, and only be active when it is needed.
They are still at an early stage of development, but we’re funding researchers, like Professor Baker, to develop the next generation of insulins. Baker’s grant was one of many projects we are pursuing in GRI.
Through the Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge, our partnership with the Steve Morgan Foundation and Diabetes UK, we are investing £15 million in research to develop novel insulins. This includes GRIs, ultra-fast acting insulins, and any other new type of insulin that makes managing type 1 diabetes easier.
We are funding six researchers around the world to drive forward their novel insulin designs. Four of these researchers are developing GRIs, another is making a rapid acting insulin, and another is combining the hormones insulin and glucagon in one molecule.
These prestigious awards celebrate outstanding contributions in Peace, Literature, Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economic Sciences. The Prizes go to the best and brightest people with the most innovative and revolutionary ideas.
That this year’s Nobel Prize for Chemistry recognises a researcher and concept that we have previously funded demonstrates that we are funding some of the very best scientists in the world. Professor Baker shares this Prize with two other scientists who used artificial intelligence to work out the structure of proteins.
The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to two other researchers who have discovered microRNA, which regulates which genes are switched on. Breakthrough T1D is currently funding research into microRNA and its potential uses in T1D.
Learn more about the next generation of insulins, known as novel insulins.
Find out about our research to cure, treat and prevent type 1 diabetes.
Discover the research projects we are currently funding in the UK
Sana Biotechnology has presented exciting updates on its hypoimmune cells at the Advanced Technologies & Treatments for Diabetes (ATTD) conference in Barcelona. These lab-engineered, insulin-producing cells have been able to evade the immune system and produce insulin for 14-months in one trial participant without the need for immunosuppression.
You may have seen headlines or social media posts about a new drug called tegoprubart, with some suggesting it could help people with type 1 diabetes (T1D) stop taking insulin.
Researchers funded by Breakthrough T1D in America have used small, electrical implant systems in lab-grown, insulin-producing cells.
New research suggests that B cells play a major role in damaging protective immune cells called Tregs. Protecting Tregs could help protect insulin-producing cells in the early stages of T1D.
Immunotherapy, beta cell replacement, smart insulins – we’re driving research in the most promising areas to find cures and better treatments for type 1 diabetes.
