The Grand Challenge community – “Work differently, work collaboratively, work swiftly”

In November, we hosted our Beta Cell Therapy and Root Causes Symposium, uniting the rapidly growing Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge community. More than 100 researchers, people with lived experience of type 1 diabetes, and collaborators came together for the first time. It was a space to share progress and fresh ideas, and to explore new collaborative opportunities, leveraging the diverse expertise within the community. Importantly, we also got to hear how people affected by type 1 diabetes have been working with research teams to ensure the discoveries and treatments scientists pursue are grounded in their needs. 

Dr Mirjam Eiswirth, who lives with type 1 diabetes and leads the Patient and Public Involvement activities for Prof Shareen Forbes and Dr Lisa White’s project, was one of our speakers. Here, she shares her thoughts on the symposium. 

“£50 million – that’s the incredible amount of money that the Steve Morgan Foundation has dedicated to the Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge towards the race for a cure. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, but as we heard at the Symposium – we’re well on track.”

Mirjam speaking at the symposium

A meeting of minds 

107 experts from 27 institutes across 8 countries and nations gathered in London for the first time to focus on two of the Grand Challenge’s strands: 

1. Root causes of type 1 diabetes: what is it that makes the immune system attack the pancreas, and how can we stop this?
2. Replacing beta cells: once the beta cells have been destroyed, how can we replace them with new, functioning ones to give the body a chance to make insulin again?

Can we restore insulin production in the body? 

We heard about innovative approaches Grand Challenge researchers are exploring to make beta cell transplants better, more efficient, and have fewer side effects. Or to even help existing healthy pancreatic cells morph into beta cells, so that the body can produce its own insulin again. Because, as Sarah Gatward, one of the experts by experience, so neatly put it: “Nothing can control blood glucose better than beta cells.” 

Could we stop type 1 diabetes from developing? 

The second key theme was understanding what happens in the body that makes it turn against itself and destroy beta cells in type 1 diabetes. If we could stop this immune attack early and protect the beta cells, we could potentially stop type 1 diabetes from developing at all.  

Grand Challenge teams told us about the innovative ways they’re hoping to do this, and some of the challenges to tackle along the way. We’d need to catch people early on the path to type 1 diabetes, which means we need good ways to screen for it. And we’d need to make sure we only stop the specific immune reaction at the root of type 1 diabetes, rather than suppressing the whole immune system. 

Putting people with lived experience at the centre of the Grand Challenge 

The Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge models the collaborative and disruptive spirit it champions: By including people with the lived experience from the get-go and every step on the way.  

Several experts by experience, including myself, gave updates on the different ways we’re getting involved, including reviewing research proposals, as patient and public involvement co-investigators, and as sounding boards when it comes to the applicability of any novel therapy the scientists develop. Because we can ask those uncomfortable “so what” questions or say, “this therapy only makes sense to me if it helps me for more than a year or two – it needs to be a proper cure”. 

For the researchers in the room, hearing more about our involvement, perspectives, and why they matter was invaluable. Dr Craig Beall, lead researcher, said:  “Hearing the voices of experts by experience was inspirational and at times emotional.” 

Anonymous feedback also reflected this: 

Expert by experience: “I felt I was able to help inform researchers and others of what their research means to those living with type 1 diabetes and I feel confident that my input has been taken on board and will be used to influence what they do and how they present their research. ” 

Early-career researcher: “I met several experts by experience and it really hammered home the importance of our research. I was astounded by the incredible role experts by experience played in shaping grant applications and steering research objectives.” 

Experts by experience talking about involving people living with type 1 diabetes at the symposium

Many perspectives, lively debates 

Senior researchers, early career researchers, and not least people with lived experience of type 1 diabetes shared their thoughts, hopes and projects related to the Grand Challenge. What unites us all is the vision of creating a world where diabetes can do no harm – and to be creative, think out of the box, work collaboratively, and work swiftly. 

One researcher summed it up: “It felt like a community, which was great.” 

Delegates chatting at the symposium

Looking ahead 

Personally, I am very excited about the progress we’ll make through these research projects. They have the potential to change the lives of millions of people with type 1 diabetes for the better.  A cure is still years, if not decades away – the journey to breakthroughs is a long and complex one. We need to move from discoveries in the lab, to testing new treatments with people in clinical trials, to ensuring widespread access to cures. But it’s a path filled with incredible moments of innovation and hope.  And I find myself just as excited for the journey as the destination.  

Researchers, practitioners and experts by experience working closely together, driven by shared ambition, can really make a difference.