The Bukhman Centre for Research Excellence in Type 1 Diabetes will bring together experts from across Oxford – including in Medical Sciences, Chemistry, Bioengineering and Computer Science - to drive collaborative, cross-disciplinary research. By leveraging Oxford's unique breadth and depth of expertise, alongside cutting-edge technology and infrastructure, the Centre will serve as a catalyst for innovative breakthroughs that can be translated rapidly into life-changing advances for patients.
Within its overarching goal of finding a cure for type 1 diabetes (T1D), the Centre will focus on three integrated research themes: identifying individuals at risk of T1D to enable selection for cutting-edge immunotherapy trials to delay disease progression; developing immune strategies to prevent T1D from occurring in the first place; and producing more effective cell-based therapies to help patients live well with T1D.
Professor Paul Johnson of the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences (NDS), who is leading the Cell-Based Therapy Theme said: 'This is a very exciting opportunity for Oxford and for NDS. We have a well-established Pancreatic Islet Transplant clinical and research programme in Oxford, and the University of Oxford has one of only a few purpose-built GMP human islet isolation facilities in Europe. We have demonstrated that it is possible to reverse type 1 diabetes in selective adults with severe disease, but this new cross-disciplinary University programme will enable us to build on this to eventually reverse diabetes in children soon after diagnosis or prevent it altogether.
'Oxford has already been selected as a site for the ground-breaking Vertex stem-cell derived islet clinical trials, and the Bukhman initiative will enable us to remain at the forefront of novel cell-based therapies moving forward.'