Diabetes is the fastest growing chronic health problem in Australia, with one Australian developing diabetes every five minutes.
With many serious health issues linked to diabetes, our Group charity Kidney Transplant & Diabetes Australia is committed to finding new ways to treat diabetes, enhance organ transplantation options and ultimately eliminate this disease from our community.
Professor Toby Coates answers all your questions about diabetes
Diabetes Support
Providing innovative pancreas and islet cell transplants and Total Pancreatectomy with Islet Auto Transplantation (TP-IAT) procedures in Adelaide for people with chronic Type 1 diabetes and to prevent the onset of diabetes.
Who it benefits
Sally Stavrinakis (middle) lived with severe Type 1 diabetes for 30 years before a pancreas and kidney transplant changed her life! If a pancreas doesn’t make enough insulin, blood sugar levels rise to unhealthy levels, resulting in Type 1 diabetes.
Investigating a new transplant option for Type 1 diabetes through the development of a 3D printer which has the ability to print insulin-producing islet cells for transplant. The 3D printed islet cells will eliminate the need to rely on a deceased donor’s islet cells.
Testing a unique therapy which aims to promote blood vessel growth for diabetic patients who are more prone to impaired wound healing.
Researcher
PhD student Emma Solly hopes this research will ultimately help prevent amputations from diabetes.
Investigating new ways to avoid the need for anti-rejection medications for transplant patients by targeting the immune cells responsible for organ rejection, using nanoparticles.
Researcher
Dr Sebastian Stead hopes his research will eliminate the debilitating side effects from anti-rejection medication.
Conducting a clinical trial on whether bitter supplements reduce the appetite of people with Type 2 diabetes and therefore allow better control of blood glucose levels and health risks.
Understanding the underlying complex factors which lead to vision loss in people with Type 2 diabetes, and using these insights to develop a model of care for management and screening eye complications within Indigenous communities.
Investigating ways to prevent potentially life-threatening diabetic ketoacidosis when a person with diabetes undergoes surgery and their medication puts them at risk.
Diabetic ketoacidosis is when a person’s blood sugar is very high and acidic ketones build up to dangerous levels in the body.
Investigating whether time-restricted eating (also known as intermittent fasting, when you limit food intake to a nine-hour period per day) can regulate glucose control and prevent Type 2 diabetes.
Researcher
Associate Professor Leonie Heilbronn is assessing blood glucose response to a standard meal.
Investigating the causes behind diabetes inequalities in Indigenous Australia and developing ways to improve prevention, treatment and management of the condition in this population.
