A Breakthrough in Type 2 Diabetes Research
Professor Garron Dodd is a passionate neuroscientist, who leads a lab at The University of Melbourne. Through his research, he seeks to discover life-changing treatments for diabetes.
The Diabetes Australia Research Program (DARP) has supported his research over the years, leading to a breakthrough during his DARP-funded project in 2023.
Diabetes Victoria donors are a major funder of the Diabetes Australia Research Program. This is one of the greatest ways in which your donation can make a difference. Here, Professor Dodd shares his insights with us.
“I entered science with an ambition to target the biggest problems in society, and type 2 diabetes is one of those. I am now focused on how the brain regulates metabolism. I am driven to use my knowledge and skills to address big global questions”.
It has long been thought that the glucose in our blood that contributes to the development of type 2 diabetes is regulated. But research has discovered that the brain plays a really important role. That has not been examined in detail before now.
Through our DARP-funded research, we have found neurons in the brain that control how blood glucose is regulated – an amazing find. We now understand there is a matrix that covers neurons in the brain of a person with type 2 diabetes. This is like a glue that surrounds them, and blocks hormones like insulin signalling to them.
With this grant, we tested new treatments to target and chip away at the matrix. This restores their ability to receive signals from hormones in the body. We have found that this discovery has profound implications for remission of type 2 diabetes.
The funding I have received from DARP is supporting our world-class researchers to understand how particular treatments work, how effective they are, if they are better than the medications already being prescribed, if they can work alongside them and, importantly, how we can deliver this compound to the brain.
This project has allowed us to identify how well these treatments can promote the remission of type 2 diabetes in pre-clinical models. We have benchmarked these against the best-in-class treatments, and we are about to publish these findings.
Fundamental science like this is essential for curing diabetes, but it’s under threat through lack of funding.
This recent project was a scientific breakthrough that has taken many years. The reason we made it here is because we have had several years of support. The journey to a cure is a long process.
One of the major roadblocks is that there is limited innovation in the research and development pipeline. So many treatments are targeting the same things, the same mechanisms.
This challenge can only be solved through the basic science that DARP is funding. Please donate today and be part of the journey to a cure.”
