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The JDRF-CIHR Partnership to Defeat Diabetes announces 4 new grants in Precision Medicine

Launched in 2017, the JDRF-CIHR Partnership to Defeat Diabetes is a landmark collaboration between the Government of Canada, through the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) and JDRF Canada for a total combined investment of $30 million to support transformative type 1 diabetes (T1D) research. This Partnership was renewed for a further $30 million through Federal Budget 2021 and through further matched funding from JDRF Canada, now being allocated across three different areas of research: precision medicine, psychosocial health, and screening for T1D risk.

The first of the three funding opportunities has now completed. Complementing previous CIHR and JDRF investments in new T1D research, the CIHR-JDRF Team Grants: Precision Medicine in Type 1 Diabetes was designed to support multi-disciplinary research that would accelerate precision medicine approaches for prediction, prevention, and treatment of T1D. 

The goal of precision medicine is to get the right treatment to the right person at the right time.

Precision medicine approaches for T1D may integrate data about genetic, molecular, and environmental factors to improve T1D diagnosis, care, treatment or prevention. A greater understanding of how a person’s individual characteristics ‒ including genetics, biomarkers and immune and beta cell dysfunction ‒ contribute to T1D risk and progression may lead to more precise therapeutic targets, better characterization of disease risk and how it may progress in an individual, improved opportunities for safe and effective intervention and, ultimately prevention of T1D. 

These grants, worth $3.5 million each, have been awarded to four teams across Canada.

Precise Treatment for Pediatric Diabetes: Providing the right care, for the right patient, at the right time, over time 

Dr. Shazhan Amed (University of British Columbia), along with her team Dr. Mark Clements (Children’s Mercy Hospital), Dr. Tricia Tang (UBC), and Dr. Wyeth Wasserman (UBC). 

Dr. Amed and her team will use this grant to fill the information management gap in pediatric T1D care. TrustSphere will be the ‘one trusted place’ for kids with T1D that brings them, their families, and their healthcare providers together to manage their diabetes information and provide the right care to the right patient at the right time. Patients, families, and their healthcare providers will have access to important diabetes information, like blood sugars and insulin doses streaming from glucose sensors and insulin pumps, or recommendations from the diabetes team – all in one digital tool. 

Through collaboration with endocrinologists, mental health experts, and patient partners, TrustSphere will be expanded to include healthy living behaviours, diabetes self-management behaviours, quality of life and mental health. With patients and families, the research team will co-create personalized and tailored care experiences and use advanced methods to analyze data like machine learning to navigate patients and families to the care they need, when they need it.  

The team’s goal is to create a collaborative care experience, improve diabetes self-management, and ultimately improve lives for children and youth with T1D.

EVERYONE: Empowering diverse youth with diabetes through precision medicine 

Dr. Farid Mahmud (The Hospital for Sick Children; SickKids), along with his team Dr. Samantha Anthony (SickKids), Dr. Funmbi Babalola (London Health Sciences Centre), Dr. Andrew Paterson (SickKids), and Dr. Diane Wherrett (SickKids). 

Dr. Mahmud’s overall research focus is diabetes clinical research, relating to the early evaluation and prevention of diabetes-related complications and the impact of the social determinants of health on diabetes outcomes. In this JDRF-CIHR funded grant, he and his team will examine the impact of diversity (genetics, race, sex, gender, income, family support, mental health, etc.) on diabetes management in youth by applying artificial intelligence approaches. The experiences and barriers faced when receiving diabetes care will be gathered through interviews and feedback from youth with T1D and their families.  Armed with this information, the team will develop individualized treatment strategies that consider patient diversity and conduct a clinical trial to determine the feasibility, acceptability, and appropriateness of the program. 

The EVERYONE study will contribute to a greater understanding of the physiologic and social factors underlying diabetes outcomes, and the opportunity to personalize and optimize care to improve lives for children and youth with T1D.

Leveraging biological sex and genetics for beta cell-directed precision medicine in type 1 diabetes 

Dr. Elizabeth Rideout (University of British Columbia), along with her team Dr. James Johnson (UBC), Dr. Dan Luciani (UBC), Dr. Peter Thompson (University of Manitoba), and Dr. Bruce Verchere (UBC). 

Dr. Rideout’s research investigates the effect of biological sex on metabolic genes and pathways. In this JDRF-CIHR grant, her team will apply this work to T1D by examining how beta cell dysfunction differs between biological males and females during the progression of T1D. Rates of T1D are higher in biological males than females, and there is evidence of sex-specific responses to insulin and beta cell functioning in T1D.  Despite this, most T1D studies have used only male animal models and participants, and of those that did use both sexes, most failed to compare data between the sexes.  

Dr. Rideout and her team will examine beta cell function between males and females, which will inform T1D prevention and treatment strategies that account for the impact of biological sex. 

Spatio-temporal dynamics of immune and non-immune islet injury in type 1 diabetes

Dr. Peter Thompson (University of Manitoba), Dr. Herbert Gaisano (University of Toronto), Dr. Guy Rutter (Université de Montréal), Dr. Pere Santamaria (University of Calgary) 

Dr. Thompson’s research focuses on the heterogeneity (individual differences) of beta cells within an islet and how individual cells may respond differently to immune system attacks and stressors. T1D varies greatly between individuals in terms of time to onset, rate of progression, and insulin requirements, but the reasons underlying these differences are unknown. This team grant will investigate the functional “hierarchies” that appear to be present amongst beta cells. Specifically, the team will look at “leader” or “hub” beta cells within an islet that are guiding and coordinating the function of the rest of the cells.  

Through this information, the team will understand the variability in beta cell loss amongst individuals with T1D, which will inform development of disease-modifying therapies and cell therapies for T1D.  

JDRF is very excited to support these cutting-edge research projects that will help further the understanding of T1D’s disease mechanisms and ideally lead to more advanced treatments, therapeutics, patient outcomes and prevention of T1D.

JDRF Canada celebrates International Women’s Day

International Women's Day

Wednesday, March 8 is International Women’s Day (IWD), recognized around the world. IWD asks us to imagine a gender equal world. One that is free from bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that’s diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. The theme for 2023 is #EmbraceEquity and calls upon us to celebrate women’s achievements, raise awareness about discrimination and take action to drive gender parity globally.

JDRF is proud to celebrate the achievements of the Canadian women researchers who have blazed a trail in the field of type 1 diabetes (T1D) – both making life better, safer and easier for the millions affected by the disease, but also for all the women scientists who came after them.

From Dr. Priscilla White, an early pioneer in diabetes research and treatment, Dr. Dorothy C. Hodgkin who discovered the three-dimensional structure of insulin, Dr. Helen M. Free, who along with her husband created Clinistix, allowing people to check their glucose at home – to the mothers who helped found JDRF, women have played a critical and essential role in advancing our understanding of T1D.

Meet these women researchers whose work is helping to improve the lives of people affected by T1D today, while getting us closer to cures tomorrow:

Dr. Diane Wherrett – accelerating screening for T1D prevention. Dr. Diane Wherrett is currently a Staff Physician in the Division of Endocrinology, Department of Paediatrics, and a Professor at the University of Toronto at SickKids. She is the Centre Director for the Canadian arm of the TrialNet screening program, a NIH-funded multicentre T1D clinical trial group.

TrialNet offers risk screening for relatives of people living with T1D, and innovative clinical studies testing ways to slow down and prevent disease progression.

Dr. Despoina Manousaki, helping to create genetic risk scores for T1D. Dr Manousaki’s research focuses on the genetics of complex disease in childhood. Her team uses genomics, bioinformatics, and genetic epidemiology methods to better understand the genetic architecture of complex disease, and to apply these findings in translational research.

Her research program focuses on the genetics of type 1 and type 2 diabetes in children and is expanding existing genetic risk scores for T1D calculated from predominantly European-ancestry datasets, to include African, Indian, Latino, and Asian ancestries for a more diverse picture of T1D genetics.

Dr. Megan Levings – helping to find a better understanding of T1D immunology.

Dr. Megan Levings, of the University of British Columbia and BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute is one of Canada’s leading immunologists. She holds two JDRF grants: one examines samples from the ustekinumab (a disease-modifying drug) clinical trial to understand how the drug works in people with T1D. The hope is that ustekinumab (brand name Stelara) can block immune cells soon after the development of diabetes to protect and regenerate any remaining insulin-producing cells. This would ideally lead to the remaining beta cells producing enough insulin so that people with T1D would require less external insulin for a longer period, or not at all.

The other is a CIHR-JDRF grant that is examining the role of regulatory immune cells to apply novel approaches to  the development of cellular therapies to cure the disease.

Dr. Christine Nostro – forging new pathways in stem cell research for T1D.

Islet transplantation could help T1D patients regain control of blood glucose levels, making this an alternative to insulin injections as the only existing treatment. However – donor scarcity, poor islet survival after transplant, the need to optimize the transplant site and for life-long immunosuppressive treatment to prevent transplant rejection mean this treatment is only accessible to a handful of people with T1D.

Dr. Nostro’s team leverages their expertise in stem cell biology, vascular biology, islet transplantation and beta cell biology to address these challenges and are working to develop a safe and effective clinical-grade product for therapy.

The outcome from these studies will accelerate universal stem cell based T1D therapies.

Dr. Tricia Tang – making mental health support for T1D more accessible.

Dr. Tricia Tang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology at the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine. She is also a behavioral scientist and registered clinical psychologist with an expertise in diabetes research in high-risk and medically underserved populations. Over the past 22 years, she has focused on developing, implementing, and evaluating low-cost and sustainable peer support models for improving long-term diabetes-related health outcomes.

Dr. Tang seeks to use digital health strategies and peer support models to close the mental health care gap for people with T1D.

Dr. Tang’s research goal is to design and evaluate a virtual care platform (REACHOUT) for highly trained peer supporters to deliver psychosocial support to adults with T1D living in rural and remote communities of interior British Columbia.
She is also the co-chair of JDRF’s Mental Health + Diabetes steering committee, helping to develop a training program for mental healthcare professionals to better serve their patients with T1D.

Dr. Shazhan Amed – developing new projects that aim to equitably improve outcomes for children with diabetes.

Dr. Shazhan Amed is a pediatric doctor who works at BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver. Her areas of care are children and youth with diabetes. She is particularly interested in improving the quality of care provided to children with diabetes, as well as preventing childhood obesity and childhood onset type 2 diabetes.

Her team has developed the CAnadian PediAtric diabetes ConsortIum (CAPACIty), a network of 15 childhood diabetes centers from across Canada, with the collaborative goal of improving outcomes for all children with diabetes, particularly those from marginalized or lower-income communities.

To read more about other JDRF-funded researchers: www.jdrf.ca/research/meet-our-researchers/

JDRF Canada – an all-women research department.

Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Sarah Linklater, along with her team Dr. Lara Green, Katie Ryan, and Dr. Anne Marie MacDonald (currently on maternity leave), use their science backgrounds and passion for accelerating type 1 diabetes research – that also may benefit other autoimmune diseases – to help JDRF determine the most promising research to fund. JDRF is so grateful for their efforts that are bringing us closer to our goal of a world free from T1D.

Exciting news: new drug in clinical trials shows slowed type 1 diabetes progression in newly diagnosed children and teens

A new JDRF International-funded study of a drug called verapamil is offering exciting new potential for a path to keeping beta cells healthier for longer in people with type 1 diabetes (T1D).When a person is diagnosed with T1D, they still have some remaining beta cells that continue to insulin for a few months – known as the  “honeymoon” phase. The new trial looked at whether the effects of a hybrid closed loop system (also known as an artificial pancreas system or automated insulin delivery system) and/or verapamil preserved beta cell function – and extends the honeymoon phase – one year after diagnosis in children and teens with T1D.

Verapamil is a drug currently prescribed for conditions like angina or high blood pressure.

The study found that newly diagnosed individuals on verapamil were making more insulin one year after diagnosis than those on placebo, with the average C-peptide, which is used to measure insulin production by beta cells, being 30% higher for the verapamil group compared to placebo. HbA1c was 6.6% in the verapamil group versus 6.9% in the placebo group, at one year.

There was no change, however, in the hybrid closed loop system arm. But participants using the hybrid closed-loop system showed improved glucose control and management, which can reduce potential diabetes-related complications.

Verapamil would be a once-a-day oral therapy (pill taken by mouth) and is already being manufactured, making it a cost-effective solution as well.

What does this mean for people with T1D?

Verapamil is not an approved therapy for newly diagnosed people with T1D, and it still must undergo further study to validate these results, ensure safety and efficacy, as well as learn if there are any potential side effects for people with T1D. Additionally, further trials must determine the long-term effects of the drug, if the preserved beta cell function lasts, and for how long.

What comes next?

JDRF International has been funding the study of verapamil for over ten years. The next step is to ascertain longer-term evidence of verapamil’s effectiveness and share this data with the clinical community and other health care leaders.

In the immediate term, JDRF International has a grant for a follow-up study for three years to see if C-peptide benefits persist. They are also funding several clinical trials to validate the results of this study and see if verapamil is effective when used in conjunction with other disease-modifying therapies, such as the recently approved Tzield™ (teplizumab-mzwv).

JDRF Canada will continue to monitor the results of this work, and report on further updates as they become available.

Development of a genetic risk score for type 1 diabetes

The causes of type 1 diabetes (T1D) are complex and not fully understood. What is known is that there is a genetic component to developing T1D – but who is at greater risk?

JDRF Canada is pleased to announce a new JDRF grant to support Dr. Despoina Manousaki, pediatric endocrinologist and genetic epidemiologist at Sainte-Justine Hospital in Montreal, that will allow her and her team to explore how the genome of an individual can predict the risk of developing type 1 diabetes (T1D). The more we can understand about the genetic predisposition of T1D, the more effectively we can screen for this risk and develop therapies to halt or delay the progression of the disease.

Dr. Manousaki, a former JDRF postdoctoral fellow, leads a research program focused on the genetics of complex disease in childhood.

How do genetic risk scores for type 1 diabetes work?

Existing genetic risk scores for T1D were largely developed using data from White European populations, which differ substantially from Canada’s diverse population. In her new JDRF-funded project, Dr. Manousaki will develop a trans-ancestral polygenic risk score for T1D, in simpler terms – looking at how different ancestral backgrounds and genetics influence the risk of developing T1D. These newly developed risk scores will be used in research and clinical practice to assess T1D in a more equitable manner. Since the existing polygenic risk scores perform poorly in diverse ancestral populations (as they were developed primarily in White European populations), there is a need to diversify these scores, particularly for T1D-related genes which are known to vary between people of different ancestral backgrounds.

Dr. Manousaki will use machine learning approaches that employ computers and algorithms to examine large European genetic datasets while incorporating genetic information from African, Indian, Latino, South-East Asian and Chinese ancestries. This will create more precise individual risk estimates of developing T1D, an important step for informing T1D screening in a diverse population. By having a better understanding of who might develop T1D, clinical teams can better select candidates across diverse Canadian populations for clinical monitoring as well as T1D prevention trials.

With the recent FDA approval of teplizumab (brand name Tzield), the first ever disease-modifying therapy that can delay the onset of T1D, research like that performed by Dr. Manousaki and her team will ensure that new T1D therapies are tested and applied appropriately in the diverse Canadian T1D community.

Safe and immune cloaked stem cell-derived beta-cells: treatment for type 1 diabetes

A significant part of JDRF Canada’s research strategy is funding the most promising cure-based research for type 1 diabetes (T1D).

T1D is an autoimmune disease where the body destroys the cells in the pancreas responsible for making insulin. People with T1D must administer external sources of insulin, either through multiple daily injections, pump or pen in order to survive. Many cure-based research studies involve replacing these cells through transplantation, in the hopes that they will start producing insulin again.

Transplantation of donor cells could be a possible cure for type 1 diabetes

Transplantation of donor pancreatic islet tissue is a promising therapy; however, transplant therapy is limited due to shortage of transplantable islets (from deceased donors), limited durability of transplanted cells (cells that stop working or growing after transplantation), and the need for long-term immunosuppression therapy to prevent immune-based rejection of the transplanted cells, similar to organ transplants. Identifying alternative and more universal sources of transplantable beta cells is necessary to make this potential therapy available to larger numbers of people living T1D, and the Nagy lab is dedicated to achieving this.

How does it work?

In a brand-new JDRF funded project, Dr. Andras Nagy, senior investigator at the Lunenfeld–Tanenbaum Research Institute in Toronto, Canada, is testing the functionality of insulin-producing cells created from human stem cells. In collaboration with Dr. Timothy Kieffer (University of British Columbia), Dr. Nagy’s team will cultivate insulin-producing islet cells from an unlimited supply of human stem cells for a potentially unlimited cell therapy.

These cells will incorporate two gene-editing technologies previously developed and patented by the Nagy lab: (1)Dr. Nagy’s FailSafeTM technology is a gene-editing solution that employs an inducible kill-switch to rapidly eliminate dividing, potentially tumour-forming, cells, thereby eliminating the risk of tumours following transplantation of a stem cell-derived cell product. (2) Dr. Nagy and his colleagues have developed an “immunocloaking” strategy for the transplanted cells by modifying specific genes that allow these cells to remain hidden from an immune system attack.

These technologies will offer solutions to the safety concerns of cell therapy and the autoimmune challenge found in T1D, which could allow for stem cell transplants without the need for immunosuppression.

This is an exciting project that harnesses the most cutting-edge methods to develop a safe and effective cell therapy solution that may lead to a cure for T1D.

JDRF Canada will provide updates on this research as it becomes available, and when it moves to the clinical trials stage.

JDRF Canada Youth Advocate Tilly Stimpson selected to represent Canada at the JDRF 2023 Children’s Congress

Tilly Stimpson, JDRF Canada in Washington. Blog Hero Profile Image.

Every two years, more than 160 children living with type 1 diabetes (T1D) gather in Washington, D.C., to meet face-to-face with some of the top decision-makers in the U.S. government. Similar to Kids for a Cure, the youth delegates in JDRF’s Children’s Congress take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help US Members of Congress understand what life with T1D is like and why research to fund both life-changing and cure-based therapies is so critical. These amazing kids bravely represent the millions of people living with T1D and their families and loved ones.

Tilly Stimpson was diagnosed with T1D at age 2 and a half, in 2010. She has said that ‘Ever since I was diagnosed, raising awareness has been extremely important for me and my family,’ and she has been living that ethos through an extraordinary legacy of volunteering and advocacy with JDRF Canada.

Tilly has attended Kids for a Cure three times, twice in person and once virtually during the early part of the pandemic. She has been a key speaker at the Access for All speakers circuit in Pickering and surrounding areas, and a spokesperson for Access for All at Queens Park (parliament buildings in Toronto for the government of Ontario). She has advocated at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) a key JDRF Canada funding partner for vital cure-based research.

In 2021, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin, Tilly wrote 100 letters to seniors in nursing homes and the community to provide company during Covid lockdowns.

She is also an active youth ambassador, has filmed countless videos and participated in several activities with JDRF.

But Tilly is not just a volunteer and advocate, she is a prolific fundraiser too.

Some of her fundraising achievements include, but are not limited to:

Tilly has raised an incredible over $80,000 for diabetes research.

And if that was not enough, Tilly has also participated in two clinical trials, been a stock image photography model for diabetes representation and was nominated in her hometown for her advocacy work for ‘Inspire Women: Day of the Girl’

‘I am absolutely honored to be chosen to represent Canada at the International Children’s Congress.

“Advocacy and educating about T1D are important to me and to be given the opportunity to have a voice alongside international delegates is extremely exciting. I hope I make Canada proud!” says Tilly.

Read more about Tilly on her application here

The JDRF 2023 Children’s Congress takes place between July 9 – 11, 2023, in Washington, D.C.

JDRF Canada once again congratulates Tilly, and we know she will make all Canadians affected by T1D so proud. She already has.

JDRF Canada is pleased to announce the launch of JDRF Your Way

A newly re-tooled third-party fundraising program is now available across Canada: JDRF Your Way.

Support. Participate. Fundraise… Your Way

JDRF’s foundations lie in grassroots efforts and fundraising, and our accomplishments as an organization can be traced back to the power of our incredible community. In 1974, four years after JDRF was founded in the United States, a group of parents determined to find a cure for their children living with type 1 diabetes (T1D) came together and began JDRF Canada, launching the largest funder and advocate for T1D research in Canada.

Although the focus was and remains finding cures for T1D; since then, JDRF has helped fund research that has led to innovation and evolution of treatments that improve the quality of life for people living with T1D, and fulfill our vision of a world without T1D, while supporting our mission of improving lives today and tomorrow by accelerating life-changing breakthroughs to cure, prevent and treat T1D and its complications.

JDRF Your Way harnesses that energy to let supporters fundraise in ways that are meaningful to them. Whether it is holding a yoga class, coordinating a soccer tournament, celebrating a special event, or recognizing a ‘Diaversary’ (the date of diagnosis) – JDRF Your Way provides our community with the tools and resources needed to feel supported and be successful.

Meet Leah, who fundraised her way by organizing her own Ride in support of her daughters living with T1D

“My hope is that the funds raised help move forward research projects so that someday my two daughters, Erica and Tara, and others with T1D can live without the burden of this disease.”

The Pictou County Ride for a Cure is an annual fundraising event in Nova Scotia that brings motorcycle and bicycle riders together to create awareness and show their support for type 1 diabetes research.

Meet Vincent, who is looking to raise $100,000 in a series of runs to honour his son’s one-year DiaVersary

“January 5th, 2023, I completed my challenge of running 32 kilometres of the Saint-Charles River Linear Park, as part of a fundraising campaign to mark my son’s one-year anniversary of his diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. In fact, I even ran 35.85 thanks to a course error that made me take a long detour!

Beyond the fundraising, the day allowed us to live an extraordinary family moment. My two boys joined me to run the last kilometre, from the Quebec City Courthouse to Espace 400e. In the evening, we gave Thomas an album celebrating the one-year anniversary of his diagnosis of type I diabetes. The album contains messages of encouragement from family, friends, teachers, and coaches to provide him with the comfort he deserves whenever he is demoralized by the efforts and sacrifices that diabetes requires. He was moved to tears when he started reading the messages, especially his brother’s.”

Meet Anne, a teenager living with T1D who held a fundraiser called The 100 Project to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin

“The idea behind The 100 Project was to seek $100 donations from 100 Canadian businesses large and small, with a goal of raising a minimum $10,000, to commemorate the centennial of Frederick Banting’s and Charles Best’s discovery of life-saving insulin.

Even when insulin was discovered, Banting and Best didn’t make it complicated. They sold the insulin patents for $1, which is what allowed insulin to be accessible to people. Frederick Banting said, ‘Insulin belongs to the world, not to me’ – they realized insulin is such a life-saving drug that can make such a difference. I would not be here without it.”

Meet Rob, who turned his passion for sports and being on the water into a fundraiser for T1D research

“A few years after starting the Medicine Hat waterski club in 2016, I wanted to organize a 24-hour waterski event and raise money for JDRF, in honour of my daughter’s 2013 T1D diagnosis. After a considerable amount of planning, we decided to split the event over two days and hold it on the longest day of the year, June 21, starting at 5pm on the first day and stopping when we could no longer see, and resuming the following morning at 5am, when the sun came up.

We were able to gather funds and auction items, and had 21 riders involved, rotating turns until the sun went down. The event continued the next day, with slalom skiing, hydro-foiling, surfing, wakeboarding, and even tubing. Once everyone was off the water, we had a band play to finish off the evening. We were able to raise approx. $5500 that went directly to JDRF.”

A newly developed website JDRFyourway.ca offers creative fundraising ideas, a FAQ section and fundraising tools and resources, along with contact information for our JDRF Staff Partner and Support Teams available to help you make your fundraiser a success.

With JDRF Your Way we have made starting a personal fundraiser easier, so you can make an even bigger impact by funding ground-breaking T1D research and providing the necessary supports to those living with T1D to ensure they live healthier, safer, and easier lives today.

Have questions or need more information? Please reach out at yourway@jdrf.ca.

2022 Wrap Up

As we got through the height of the pandemic in 2021 and moved into 2022, we believed that it would be a year of hope. And thanks to the support of our incredible community of donors, volunteers, supporters – we surpassed even our wildest expectations.

We opened the year with one of our biggest undertakings as an organization – our Let’s Make History Again fundraising event in support of our $100 Million Campaign to Accelerate. Five flagpoles and Leaders of History, four cities, 100 Ambassador of History families camping in the cold winter in solidarity. This was spearheaded by a passionate and dedicated JDRF volunteer, Peter Oliver, who himself camped atop a flagpole 30 years before, and whose daughter Vanessa was one of our Leaders in History in April. Sadly, Peter passed away in September, but we carry his spirit and devotion to finding cures for type 1 diabetes with us in everything we do. We are so grateful to our many volunteers, corporate sponsors and staff for taking Peter’s vision and making it reality.  Read more about Peter Oliver’s incredible legacy.

Click here to watch a video of this incredible event

Our community rallied in ways that we could not imagine, and it only continued throughout the year. Thanks to our JDRF supporters, we were able to continue advancing the most promising type 1 diabetes (T1D) research getting us closer to cures, while improving the lives of people affected by T1D today.

Thanks to the generosity of donors, JDRF had another ground-breaking year– dedicating more dollars to research, strengthening our strategic partnerships, continuing to support newly diagnosed families, and sharing the latest research updates with our community.

Some highlights over the past year included:
In T1D research:

In Cell Replacement:

In Disease-Modifying Therapies:

  • Teplizumab was approved by the FDA in the USA. This drug has shown great promise as the first ever disease-modifying therapy for T1D, as it has been shown to significantly delay the onset of T1D.

In Treatments to Improve Lives:

  • JDRF-funded researchers are performing advanced clinical trials on a once-daily therapeutic drug that restores glucagon secretion to prevent hypoglycemia, and if approved would be the first drug of its kind for people with type 1 diabetes.
  • Funding programs devoted to improving mental health care and outcomes for people with T1D, including REACHOUT.

In Screening:

To read more about research updates, please visit www.jdrf.ca/blog to see more stories about the incredible progress that took place over the last year in type 1 diabetes research and development.

It has never been a more exciting time in diabetes research and at JDRF. And together with our JDRF community, we believe that a world free from type 1 diabetes is closer than ever.

Kids For A Cure 2022

JDRF’s Kids For a Cure advocacy event was held from November 13- 15 in Ottawa and what an impact our youth delegates made – engaging with more than 55 Members of Parliament and Senators during 20 meetings to share their stories of what it means to live with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and advocate the federal government for support on issues impacting people living with the disease.

Every two years, JDRF sends youth who live with T1D to Ottawa to put a human face to the disease and help Parliamentarians understand just how challenging it can be. After the pandemic made our event in 2020 virtual, we were thrilled to be back in person this year. Thirty kids between the ages of 4 and 17 were selected to be delegates out of over 150 applications.

Kids For a Cure – in the community

Collectively, they held 25 meetings, and made 21 commitments to send a letter to the Minister of Finance, while also having the chance to meet with other youth living with type 1 diabetes. This is a powerful aspect of this event, as many of our youth advocates live in communities where they are the only young person they know who has T1D. Kids For a Cure is not just about telling stories, but also about garnering government support for issues affecting the T1D community. The delegates made the following pre-budget recommendations to the government officials who they met with:

Recommendation 1

The Government of Canada should invest $30M over 5 years with JDRF Canada (with a minimum of $5M in financial or in-kind match funding from other funders of trials) to support a type 1 diabetes (T1D) Clinical Trial Network to enable up to 7 high-impact trials, infrastructure to accelerate the planning and launch of new trials and trial sites, and training of multiple new clinician-researchers. Funding will also support expansion of a key enabler of the T1D Trial Network, a platform co-designed by patients to engage the T1D community in research, accelerate trial recruitment and collect and report on national T1D data.

Recommendation 2

The Government of Canada should invest $5M over 3 years into implementation research on interventions that addressing mental health challenges in people with T1D.

Our Kids For a Cure co-chairs 15-year-old Caleah of Brossard QC and Vanessa, 16-years-old and from Dieppe, NB spoke about what the event meant to them:

“I wanted to co-chair Kids For a Cure because it’s an event that allows kids with diabetes to have a voice. This is an important event because it helps to raise awareness among Canadian MP’s and senators about T1D and the importance of their help. I think it also has a greater impact, since we are the young people who are going to talk to them about it. Kids For a Cure is also a place where you can connect with the diabetes community across Canada.”
– Caleah

“Kids For a Cure to me was an empowering experience.  Speaking our voice to make a difference and seeing the responsiveness of Senators, Ministers and MPs on Ottawa parliament hill was really inspiring.  It was a privilege and an experience that I will never forget!”
– Vanessa

Hearing from our youth delegates deeply resonated with the politician who they met with as well:

“It was a great pleasure to welcome JDRF and their youth delegates to Ottawa for their awareness campaign, Kids for a Cure. Youth delegates from across Canada living with type 1 diabetes had the opportunity to meet with MPs to share their stories and the reality of their condition.

I want to congratulate JDRF on their tireless hard work in research to improve the quality of life for those living with diabetes. As Co-Chair of the All-Party Caucus on Juvenile Diabetes, I know how important the partnership between the government and JDRF is in the fight to eradicate type 1 diabetes. JDRF and Canadians living with type 1 diabetes can always count me to be an ally.”
– Marie-France Lalonde, MP Orléans

“It was my pleasure to welcome and meet kids with Type 1 diabetes and their parents to Ottawa for the special JDFR events. I got to know kids from coast to coast and learned about why it’s so important for our federal government to invest funds into research with JDRF.  Let’s make Type 1 Type None!”
– The Honourable Nancy Hartling, Senator (New Brunswick)

 “I was excited to meet with the inspiring children ambassadors from JDRF Canada. Their advocacy and determination have made a positive difference for thousands of Canadians living with Type 1 Diabetes. The renewal of the Partnership to Defeat Diabetes and the release of the first of its kind Framework for Diabetes in Canada are critical steps forward in our government’s efforts to better recognize, collaborate with, and support those living with diabetes in Canada. To all the children I had the opportunity to meet, I commend your dedication and thank you for our leadership!”
– The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health

A huge THANK YOU to all our Kids For a Cure youth delegates. JDRF is extremely fortunate to have a group of young advocates who speak so powerfully and persuasively about life with T1D. Thank you as well to the parents, for volunteering while supporting their children as they made their collective voices heard. Our Kids For a Cure delegates undoubtedly made real and lasting impact on the politicians they met over the course of the event, and this will benefit all Canadians living with type 1 diabetes.

Thank you as well to our sponsors:

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The Turner family wants to help families like theirs affected by T1D

A diagnosis of type 1 diabetes (T1D) changes the trajectory of an entire family. This was no different for the Turner Family when Alex was diagnosed at 14-years-old.

The Turners are a close-knit family, parents Richard and Alison, and children Alex, Sara and Emma approached Alex’s diagnosis together as a family.

“At 14 years old, it was so traumatic and hard. For my parents, and of course for Alex. It really rocked our entire family. We were all affected,” says Sara. “And JDRF has been a part of our lives since then”.

Today, Alex works at RBC, and his wife Camryn works in Management Consulting. Richard, Alison, Sara, and Emma all have careers in the real estate sector. They have all been active volunteers with JDRF, particularly helping with events like the Sun Life Ride to Defeat Diabetes, and chairing the 2019 Gala in Toronto, Ontario.

It has been 15 years since Alex’s diagnosis. He played competitive golf as a teen and throughout university. While managing his diabetes, he struggled in ways other kids didn’t.  

“The CGM (continuous glucose monitoring) and other diabetes devices helps him monitor his insulin and blood glucose levels and puts him more on a level playing field. A lot of people still don’t have access to them.  Today these devices are more widely available, but they are still incredibly costly, and not everyone has the luxury to pay for them.” says Sara. “I can’t even imagine as a parent, experiencing the stress and anxiety that comes with having a child with type 1 diabetes. With a CGM, they can at least monitor their numbers while they’re at school or sleeping and take away some of the worry. But the truth is, you are always worried, and you will be forever until there’s a cure” says Sara.

It is for that reason The Turner Family have reaffirmed their commitment to JDRF through a total donation of $200,000 to support the most promising research both into a cure for type 1 diabetes, and into devices and therapies that can improve the lives of others living with the disease today.

“As a family we chatted about how we wanted to be remembered and decided it would be through a joint family donation to JDRF,” says Sara.

The Turner Family will be matching donations throughout December up to $100,000 until the end of the year.

Alex wants people to better understand what it really means to live with T1D:

“I need to think about every single piece of food I put in my mouth, or what activity I am going to do that day otherwise there could be severe repercussions. It all must be planned out. When I travel, even if it is just two hours out of the city, I must make sure that I’ve packed enough insulin and diabetes supplies.” says Alex. “What people need to know is that I do this every day – because it is what is keeping me alive.”

Something the family often thinks about is that Richard’s great-uncle passed away at 13 years old in 1900, from diabetes.

“Had he been born 30 years later; he would have lived. It was just 21 years later that insulin was discovered. Instead, he did not even make it to the age that Alex was diagnosed. It’s sobering. This is why we want to push funding for more research, like CGMs, other devices and ultimately a cure. Because you don’t know what the next discovery will be” says Sara.

JDRF is so grateful to the Turner Family for their incredible generosity. Their support will allow JDRF to continue funding the research that will get us closer to a world free from type 1 diabetes.

JDRF Centre of Excellence at UBC celebrates 1 year of progress in T1D cure research

December 2021 marked the launch of the JDRF Centre of Excellence at the University of British Columbia (UBC). One year later, a team of over 40 researchers convened in person at UBC for the first annual meeting to review and celebrate progress, translate knowledge, engage with the type 1 diabetes (T1D) community, and discuss what the future holds for this exciting research initiative. 

On November 3rd, 2022, researchers, clinicians, trainees, members of the T1D community, and JDRF staff assembled for the JDRF Centre of Excellence’s first annual meeting at The Nest on UBC campus. The full-day event included a review of year 1 scientific progress across the Centres research projects and cores, knowledge translation presentations led by trainee researchers from the Centre, engagement sessions involving researchers and the T1D community, and discussions about the future plans of the Centre’s research program.  

 “The annual meeting was an inspiring day where Centre researchers shared progress from our first year of operation, and patient partners shared their stories of living with T1D,” said Bruce Verchere, one of the project leads at the Centre. “We concluded the meeting energized and with new ideas to carry on the Centre’s important work in Year 2!” 

The Centre’s research program, which is exclusively focused on T1D cure research, has seen important progress across all of its three main themes. In Theme 1, led by Dr. Francis Lynn and focused on building better beta cells for islet replacement therapy, the research team identified improved systems and growth conditions for scaling up the manufacture of stem cell-derived beta-like cells in the lab. They also carried out crucial groundwork to enable screens in Year 2 that will aim to identify molecules that will improve the survival and function of stem cell-derived beta-like cells during lab-based manufacturing.  

In Theme 2, led by Dr. Megan Levings and focused on protecting insulin-producing beta cells from immune attack, the team discovered that insulin seems to impair the function of T regulatory cells (Tregs) – a special type of immune cell that suppresses autoimmune and inflammatory responses – and are now working to immune-engineer Tregs so that they work optimally to shut down unwanted immune responses in the insulin-rich environment of the pancreas. Theme 2 researchers also began testing a new therapeutic approach involving lipid nanoparticles (the same technology used for mRNA-containing COVID-19 vaccines) designed to stop the autoimmune attack of beta cells, with the aim of preserving insulin production.  

In Theme 3, led by Dr. Jim Johnson and focused on targeting and monitoring beta cell stress (a potential contributing factor to T1D), the team made key advances in understanding stress protection mechanisms in beta cells that might open up new therapeutic opportunities. The team also discovered that an enzyme called PC1/3, which is involved in the production of the insulin hormone, is impaired prior to a T1D diagnosis, providing new insight into the early stages of T1D development. 

“The goal of a JDRF Centre of Excellence was to create something that is more than the sum of its parts – and that was evident in the progress achieved during Year 1,” said Dr. Sarah Linklater, JDRF Canada’s Chief Scientific Officer. “JDRF is proud to be supporting this innovative team, and excited about the pace and direction of the research program.”

The day also included formal announcement of two new $20,000 seed grants funded to UBC investigators through the Centre, awarded through a competitive process designed to expand the scope of the Centre’s research program and bring young new investigators into the collaborative research team. Dr. Dan Luciani was successful in securing a grant to investigate the potential of a protein called TFEB as a new therapeutic target in T1D. Dr. Hongshen Ma will use his grant to develop a new tool for measuring insulin production at the single cell level and apply this to understand the molecular function and heterogeneity of islets and stem cell-derived islets. These high-risk, high-reward projects will synergize with ongoing projects at the Centre will report their results at next year’s annual meeting. 

The highlight of the day was undoubtedly the afternoon’s knowledge translation session, when 9 of the Centre’s junior trainees shared the goals and potential impact of their projects in 3-minute verbal presentations intended for a lay audience. These oral presentations were based on written summaries about the trainees’ research projects, also intended for a lay audience, circulated before the meeting. The oral presentations were followed by an opportunity for trainees and people with lived experience of T1D to share perspectives on what it means to live with T1D, what a cure would mean, and how researchers and the T1D community can better work together to accelerate research. 

“Working in the lab and pondering basic biology, it can be easy to lose touch with the broad impact of our day-to-day science,” said Natalie Nahirney, a graduate student in Dr. James Johnson’s lab. “It was a great experience to meet individuals and families affected by type 1 diabetes, and opportunities like this are an important reminder of the real motivation behind our research.”  

“As a parent of a child with T1D, there is nothing more that I want than to be able to take this disease, the worry, and the burden, away for my son,” said JDRF volunteer Angela Barrington-Foote, who attended the event. “Reading about all the research being done is one thing, but to physically be in a room full of brilliant minds, watching them collaborate and talk about what they are doing and the advancements they have made – I was in awe. And to be able to share my lived experience to bring value and meaning to all the effort and work being done was very rewarding. I left at the end of the day full of gratitude, appreciation, hope, and excitement for my son’s future!” 

Future plans for the Centre are focused on the overall goal of bringing new cure therapies to the clinical testing stage. Read more about the Centre here or at UBC’s new dedicated webpage at jdrf.med.ubc.ca 

Teplizumab approved for use in people at risk of type 1 diabetes by the US Food and Drug Administration

This is the first therapeutic on the market
that may help delay the onset of clinical
type 1 diabetes

November 17, 2022

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) weighed the evidence for teplizumab to delay type 1 diabetes (T1D) in at-risk individuals, and the T1D community got a big win: Approved! Teplizumab (Provention Bio brand name Tzield) is the first disease-modifying therapy for individuals at-risk for developing T1D. (At-risk means that they exhibited 2+ T1D-related autoantibodies—antibodies against one’s own self—and their blood glucose is starting to be abnormal, but they have not yet become insulin dependent.)

For the first time in history, there is an approved therapy that addresses the autoimmunity behind T1D—not just the symptoms that it causes.

Teplizumab can start to address the stark unmet need for disease-modifying therapies and provide people at-risk for T1D and their families at least two more years without the burden and complications this disease brings. Teplizumab, and multiple potential disease-modifying therapies that JDRF has invested research into, put us on the critical pathway to finding cures and, one day, preventing T1D entirely.

JDRF and all its affiliates thank the FDA for their thorough and thoughtful review of the teplizumab evidence and data, showing that the benefits of teplizumab outweigh the risks to delay clinical T1D in at-risk individuals.

A day decades in the making

The approval of teplizumab would simply not have been possible without decades of JDRF work, from funding discovery research to clinical development to work with regulators. JDRF had a hand in the development of teplizumab from the very beginning.

The JDRF T1D fund made a strategic investment in Provention Bio in 2017 that brought the company into T1D for the first time. That investment has helped catalyze hundreds of millions of dollars toward clinical development, regulatory work, and launch preparation that made this moment possible.

Teplizumab is now the first ever disease-modifying therapy for T1D. In clinical trials led by TrialNet and supported by JDRF and other funders, teplizumab was able to significantly delay—for over two years—the onset of T1D in participants with a high risk of developing the disease, the first time a study in humans demonstrated a delay in the onset of T1D.

In long-term follow up of trial participants,  the effect of teplizumab was even more striking: 50% of those treated with teplizumab remain diabetes-free, compared to only 22% of those taking placebo, and the delay in diabetes onset was close to 3 years (35 months).

Additionally, the participants, in both the teplizumab and placebo groups, had had a progressive decline in the biomarker that measure’s the body’s ability to produce insulin—C-peptide—preceding the trial. But the study team found that production of C-peptide went up following treatment with teplizumab, particularly in the first 6 months after treatment. Teplizumab could potentially reverse the downward trajectory of C-peptide loss that was there before the trial.

A key tenet of JDRF’s research funding strategy is that there are multiple pathways to cures for T1D, one of which includes screening for risk and use of therapeutics to delay or even prevent the onset of the disease developing – to give more time to the individual to adapt before requiring external insulin.

On Thursday, October 6, 2022, Provention Bio announced that it was partnering with pharmaceutical manufacturer Sanofi to support the US launch of teplizumab.

This co-promotion agreement will enable Provention Bio to leverage Sanofi’s substantial expertise, capabilities and commercial resources to bring the drug to those in the US in need with high efficiency.

The importance of screening

JDRF, through research grants, T1D Fund investments, and advocacy, has accelerated multiple potential disease-modifying therapies for T1D that may help to move the field towards this goal. Screening is the only way that individuals can determine their risk and to find out if they are candidates for such therapies.

Canadians who have a first-degree family member with T1D can currently be screened via TrialNet. Research has shown that family members of people with T1D are at a 15x greater risk of developing T1D than the general population. The goal for this program aligns with JDRF’s research strategy of identifying preventative and screening measures that will stop the disease before it starts.

JDRF Canada has also launched a funding opportunity, in partnership with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), for a T1D Screening Research Consortium to be announced in summer 2023.