Top charities pledge to advance stem cell research

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) has today teamed up with the Wellcome Trust in a multi-million pound effort to promote the UK's contribution to advancing research into stem cells.

With a significant funding boost of up to £3 million over five years from JDRF and a commitment from the Wellcome Trust to match this funding, the two organisations will work together to promote and fund stem cell research. The development of stem cell lines and stem cell research is of primary importance not only to diabetes, but could also lead to therapies and cures for other chronic illnesses.

Grants will be made for work on the development of stem cell lines and the practical application of those lines towards cell therapies. In particular applications are sought for work that has a direct relevance to diabetes, such as the development of insulin-producing glucose-responsive cell lines (material for potential transplant therapy for diabetes).

The UK has the best environment in the world for undertaking work in this area and has led the international community in regulating stem cell research. Both JDRF and the Wellcome Trust are already significant funders of both diabetes and stem cell research in the UK, and in initial laboratory studies the application of stem cells to therapies for diabetes are showing some early positive results. With this new partnership, the organisations hope to bring together expertise from a number of different, complementing disciplines, and to promote collaboration among scientists.

Dr Robert Goldstein, Chief Scientific Officer, JDRF, believes that the partnership between the two leading research funders is vital to the fight against the illness: 'JDRF has identified stem cells as offering significant potential for a cure for diabetes and is leading an international effort to drive research in this area forward.' The charity itself is planning a £13 million investment in stem cell research over the next five years, and has also formed a partnership with the Swedish Research Council and the Swedish Diabetes Association. Goldstein went on to say 'we are delighted to be working with the Wellcome Trust in this critical and promising area.'
Mike Dexter, Director, Wellcome Trust, is hopeful about the future results of such research: "Stem cell research promises to deliver break-throughs into finding treatments not only for diabetes, but other - diseases such as Parkinson's and cancer. Working with the JDRF we hope we can create an environment in which stem cell research will flourish and ultimately lead to improving the health of hundreds of thousands of children whose daily lives are affected by diabetes."

The charities JDRF and the Wellcome Trust, were recently named in the UK Government's recently published report on Current and Future Research on Diabetes, as the leading funders of research into diabetes (based on 2001 figures).

Type 1 or juvenile diabetes currently affects 350,000 people in the UK, and across Europe incidence is increasing by 3-4% every year in children aged under 15. People with type 1 diabetes must test their blood at least six times every day and are dependent on insulin injections to stay alive. However insulin does not stop the long term effects of diabetes, which include blindness, kidney disease, limb amputations, strokes and heart disease.

For further information please contact Sarah Johnson, tel: 020 8343 2898, email: sarah.e.johnson@btopenworld.com

ABOUT JUVENILE DIABETES RESEARCH FOUNDATION
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (registered charity number 295716) was founded in 1986 and is one of 12 JDRF affiliates worldwide. Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International, the world's leading nonprofit, nongovernmental funder of diabetes research, was founded in 1970 by the parents of children with type 1 (juvenile) diabetes- which strikes children suddenly, makes them insulin-dependent for life, and carries the constant threat of devastating complications.

Since inception, JDRF has provided more than £400 million to diabetes research worldwide. Our mission is constant: to find a cure for diabetes and its complications through the support of research.

ABOUT THE WELLCOME TRUST

The Wellcome Trust is an independent research-funding charity, established under the will of Sir Henry Wellcome in 1936. It is funded from a private endowment which is managed with long-term stability and growth in mind. The Trust's mission is to foster and promote research with the aim of improving human and animal health For further information visit: www.wellcome.ac.uk

ABOUT DIABETES

To stay alive, children with juvenile diabetes must test their blood at least six times a day and administer multiple insulin injections. Insulin does not cure diabetes, nor does it prevent its eventual and devastating effects: kidney failure, blindness, nerve damage, amputation, heart attack and stroke.

Diabetes takes a financial toll personally and nationally - diabetes and its complications cost £5.2 billion each year, 9% of the NHS budget.

Diabetes affects 120-140 million people worldwide, and the World Health Organisation estimates that number will more than double by 2025.

Researchers are closing in on finding a cure for juvenile diabetes, and progress here might help scientists find a cure for other autoimmune diseases like arthritis and lupus.