The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust’s (Helmsley) Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) Program aims to support the discovery and development of new therapies to prevent or delay T1D and the identification and validation of biomarkers to predict disease initiation and progression.
T1D is a complex autoimmune disease where insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas are targeted by immune cells. The predisposing factors, triggers, and other elements that affect disease pathogenesis in humans are not yet fully identified. Understanding these drivers of disease could lead to discoveries of new drug targets, guide intervention strategies to halt the disease, or improve prediction of disease development.
To date most T1D preclinical and clinical research has focused on the role T cells play in disease pathogenesis. However, innate immune cells are the first and most abundant type of immune cells in the pancreas, especially in individuals with T1D. Moreover, data, mostly generated from animal experiments, suggests that these cells might play different roles in T1D: from activating T cells and/or recruiting them to the pancreatic islets, to promoting inflammation or inducing immune tolerance. However, what leads to an increase in innate immune cells in the pancreas during T1D, its significance, and what role these cells play in disease in humans is not yet fully understood.
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Posted: March 3, 2025
Concept notes due: April 30, 2025
Full grant proposal due: July 30, 2025
Start date: February 2026
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