Funding is available for UK-based researchers to test if stem cell-derived beta cells produced by ARMI can survive shipment from the US to the UK. And if they can, whether they work as expected in both lab studies and living organisms.
We’re inviting UK experts with a track record of producing and testing stem cell-derived beta cells to apply for funding to test ARMI’s beta cells. Funding is available for up to three sites across the UK.
Successful researchers will also have the opportunity to directly compare ARMI’s beta cells with their own lab-made beta cells. This may help them to improve their own production process and identify the most effective product for wider rollout.
The hope is that it will enable the development of a reliable supply of high-quality, pre-made stem cell-derived beta cells for use by UK scientists. By saving researchers time and ensuring consistency across studies, this initiative is expected to accelerate the development of new beta cell replacement therapies.
Apply for funding
Details about the call can be found here. You’ll need to submit your application by 31 January 2025.
If you’re interested in applying, we strongly encourage you to attendour funding call webinar on 8 January 2025 at 14:00 GMT and reach out to the T1DGC Research Funding Team to discuss the opportunity further (smfgrandchallenge@diabetes.org.uk).
The Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI | BioFabUSA) said:
“ARMI is proud to partner with the Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge to advance beta cell research. By providing high-quality, stem cell-derived beta cells for validation, we aim to accelerate breakthroughs in type 1 diabetes treatment and improve the scalability of regenerative therapies. This initiative represents a critical step in bridging global efforts to bring innovative solutions to patients.”
Professor Matthias Hebrok, Vice Chair of the Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge Scientific Advisory Panel, said:
“Testing stem cell derived islets produced by a foundry for their functional properties upon being sent to the UK is critical to ensure high quality tissues will be available to accelerate research in type 1 diabetes.”
Amount: Up to three grants available with the total for each site determined by the costs required by each Host Institution to deliver the work described.
Duration: ~12-months for the validation study with work likely commencing from the end of May 2025 subject to cell production and shipping arrangements.
Skills: Independent group leaders with teams who have a track record of working with and/or producing stem cell derived beta cells and studying them both in vitro and in vivo.
Location: Will fund up to three validation sites. The Principal Applicant at each location must be based at an academic Host Institution in the UK. Applications led by or including commercial organisations will be considered on a case by case basis.
Process: Short application submitted through the online grant’s portal, accompanied by a full financial breakdown, by 31 January 2025.
Purpose: To test and validate stem cell derived beta cell products manufactured by the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI). Applicants may propose additional, related project tasks (e.g., the inclusion of additional stem cell derived beta cell sources for comparison).
There is a need to address the limited availability of stem cell derived beta cells for academic research studies. To achieve this at pace we have partnered with the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI), based in New Hampshire, US. ARMI focuses on the scalable, consistent, cost-effective manufacture of cell-based products. Scaled manufacture will enable a reliable supply of stem cell derived beta cells to researchers, and the three original validation sites will be prioritised for consideration as major distribution hubs.
If you’re interested in applying, you can refer to some frequently asked questionshere, or watch the below webinar recording and hear from Diabetes UK and ARMI teams, who have given more contexts to this funding call and some top tips for making a stand out application. Or you may refer to some frequently asked questions here.
Scope
The validation study is designed to determine cell viability in shipping from the US to the UK, as well as cell function both in vitro and in vivo. Flexibility on receipt and testing days will be needed due to the unknowns that can occur with international shipments. As above, applicants may propose additional, related project tasks (e.g., the inclusion of additional stem cell derived beta cell sources for comparison). To note, the three sites will need to use standard procedures to ensure the results are comparable and therefore, will be required to collaborate if successful. The same transplant procedure will also ideally be adopted at all three locations.
We are also open to applicants pitching to add a third comparator to the study, if they also have a proven protocol used in their laboratories to produce stem cell derived beta cells and test in vitro and in vivo. All results generated must be shared back with ARMI and each site will use aligned collection and reporting templates/platforms.
Scope of Work for the Stem Cell Derived Beta Cell Validation Study
The Scope of Work (SOW) includes the ability to:
Receive stem cell derived beta cells and maintain in culture until in vitro and in vivo assessment is performed;
Perform in vitro assays to assess stem cell derived beta cell morphologically, compositionally (e.g. by flow cytometry) and functionally (e.g. glucose-stimulated insulin secretion assay);
Perform 12-week in vivo assessment of the stem cell derived beta cells by implanting under the kidney capsule of a suitable mouse model of diabetes (e.g. streptozotocin-induction in an immunodeficient background) and assess by using the appropriate tests (e.g., blood glucose measurement, animal weight, human c-peptide, periodic intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test);
And perform histology on explanted grafts to assess graft durability.
Eligibility criteria
This call is open to non-clinical and clinical independent group leaders based at academic Host Institutions within the UK. Applications led by or including commercial organisations will be accepted and considered on a case by case basis, and we encourage you to contact the T1DGC Research Funding Teamto discuss your application. Applications must be led by one Principal Applicant but can include other experts from their or other Host Institutions as Co-Applicants/Collaborators plus project management/co-ordinator support. As we will fund up to three sites that will be required to collaborate if successful, we are open to receiving applications that are interlinked from the start. But separate submissions will still be required.
Skills and expertise
In addition to experience of working with and/or producing and testing stem cell derived beta cells, the appropriate Home Office approvals should be in place, or able to be, by the earliest start date of 31 May 2025, to conduct the animal studies described.
Assessment criteria
Applications will be scientifically assessed by a subset of the Beta Cell Therapy Reviewer college, a group of international beta cell experts, and co-opted experts where necessary. The reviewers will focus on:
Relevant experience, skills, and expertise in beta cell therapy research.
The research environment and personnel, and the ability to conduct and deliver the experiments as described in the SOW provided as part of the funding call, within the timeframe described.
Ambition to help address this barrier to progress, the availability of stem cell derived beta cells for research purposes.
The recommendation from the Scientific Review Panel will be considered by ARMI, the Beta Cell Therapy Scientific Advisory Panel, who provide strategic guidance to the partnership, and the Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge Partnership Steering Group, composed of representatives from the three partner organisations Diabetes UK, the Steve Morgan Foundation and Breakthrough T1D UK.
A Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) will need to be signed for applicants to receive and test the cells. As this is a validation study using cells provided by ARMI some of the specific grant conditions for work funded by the Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge will not be relevant. For any work carried out on other cells sources, the standard terms apply.
Funding
Financial leverage is essential to the T1DGC initiative as we can do more together. Therefore, we ask that Applicants discuss this opportunity with their Host Institutions and explore how we can work in partnership, such as covering indirect costs and making contributions to the direct costs of research.
Funds can be used to cover:
Material and consumable costs.
Equipment costs will be considered on a case-by-case basis as the SOW has been designed to not require the use of specialist technology. Please contact the T1DGC Research Funding Team to discuss this further.
Project manager/co-ordinator costs are strongly encouraged but need to be fully justified within the application.
Staff salaries. For example: technicians, research assistants, postdoctoral researchers*. Applicants are encouraged to include named staff on proposals.
Travel and accommodation costs to visit collaborating institutes.
*Allowed/disallowed salary costs
Studentships are an ineligible cost for this funding call.
Diabetes UK will also not pay salaries on a cost recovery basis or for those already in receipt of a salary equivalent to 1FTE and is, therefore, unwilling to meet the salary costs of staff currently fully funded by the Higher Education Funding Council, NHS or equivalent. This usually applies to all Principal Applicants, Co-Applicants and Collaborators.
Where staff salaries are dependent on grant funding, we would require a letter from the Host Institute confirming they will not be in receipt of more than 1FTE for the duration of the award, if successful.
Diabetes UK will pay for named staff with specific expertise.
Costs for National Insurance contributions and any superannuation should be added to salary costs at the point of application. These costs will not be considered after an award has been made. Known salary increments may be included on the application form but national pay awards may not.
If you are unsure if the salary of a post will be covered, please contact the office to clarify.
About the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI)
The Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI), headquartered in Manchester, New Hampshire, is a not-for-profit, Member-driven, public-private partnership found to bring the scalable, consistent, cost-effective manufacture of life-saving, cell-based technologies to scale. Bolstered by the expertise of nearly 200 industry, academic, and civic Members, ARMI is building a new industry: biofabrication, that will transform the future of healthcare and restore health and quality of life for patients, families, and communities around the globe.
Views
The Grand Challenge community – “Work differently, work collaboratively, work swiftly”
December 4, 2024
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 theSteve Morgan Foundationhas 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:
Root causes of type 1 diabetes: what is it that makes the immune system attack the pancreas, and how can we stop this?
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 innovativeapproaches Grand Challenge researchers are exploring to makebeta cell transplants better, more efficient, and have fewer sideeffects. Ortoeven help existing healthy pancreatic cellsmorph into betacells, 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.
Dr Craig Beall and Dr Thomas Piers’ Beta Cell Therapy Innovation Project Grant
Led by Drs Craig Beall and Thomas Piers at the University of Exeter, this project will explore whether a type of cell found in the brain can help beta cells to make more insulin while hiding them from the immune system’s attack.Using ‘organ-on-a-chip’ devices, their approach could improve the outcomes of beta cell transplants.
Background to the research project – brain cells for beta cells
In type 1 diabetes, the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. But beta cells aren’t the only cells that make insulin, and the pancreas isn’t the only place in the body where insulin is made.
Insulin is produced in the brain. There are at least six different types of brain cells that make insulin, and in type 1 diabetes these are hidden from the immune system attack. The cells all have different functions but the insulin they produce isn’t released in the right place or in high enough quantities to help manage blood sugar levels in type 1 diabetes.
Dr Craig Beall and Dr Thomas Piers are investigating if a type of brain cell can be engineered to work together with beta cells to make lots of insulin, out of sight from the immune system. The hope is that this could help improve the effectiveness of beta cell transplants in people with type 1 diabetes.
What will the team do in this project?
In the lab, Dr Beall and Dr Piers will grow clusters of insulin-producing brain cells and beta cells on a special plate called an ‘organ-on-a-chip’ device. They’ll recreate the conditions of type 1 diabetes, and test how these clusters react to sugar, nutrients, and treatments, compared to clusters of beta cells from human donors.
They’ll also test how well blood vessels form around them on the organ-on-a-chip device as this will be important for keeping the cells alive when transplanted.
How will this research help people with type 1 diabetes?
In current beta cell transplants, the immune system tends to attack transplanted beta cells, meaning some of the benefits of transplants are short-lived. Or people who’ve had transplants need to take drugs that dial down their immune system, called immunosuppressants.Dr Beall and Dr Piers’ project could lead to the development of new or improved beta cell therapies that can help people with type 1 produce insulinfor longer periods without the need for immunosuppressant drugs.
Dr Craig Beall said:
“We are really excited to have this funding from the Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge. This scheme really pushed us to harness brainpower to come up with the best possible ideas and to look for creative new concepts. The moonshot we’re aiming for is a cure that frees people with type 1 diabetes from insulin injections and immunosuppression, and this is the next step in that journey.“
Views
Q&A with Professor Simon Heller
We spoke to Professor Simon Heller, world-renowned diabetes specialist and Chair of the Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge Scientific Advisory Panels, to find out about his research journey and hopes for the Grand Challenge
February 10, 2023
Professor Simon Heller is chair of all three scientific advisory panels in the Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge, covering beta cells, novel insulins and root causes of type 1 diabetes. Along with the leading experts who sit on these panels, Simon will help to steer the direction of the Grand Challenge to make sure our funding is invested in the right places, with the biggest potential to change the lives of people with type 1 diabetes. He is also Professor of Clinical Diabetes at the University of Sheffield and a world-renowned scientist, whose research has led the way in transforming our understanding of hypoglycaemia.
Why did you want to get involved with the Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge?
Simon: “It was a huge honour to be asked to assist in determining how this huge amount of funding could best be used to benefit type 1 diabetes research in the UK. It’s important to me to do my best to see our research move more quickly towards a cure for people with type 1.”
How do you think the Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge will be a game-changer for type 1 diabetes research?
“I hope that the Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge will allow the UK to play a major part in moving the research landscape closer to a cure. It will hopefully enable us to do something much more rapidly than we otherwise would be able to.”
What would a cure for type 1 diabetes look like to you?
“A cure would be removing the burden of day-to-day self-management of type 1 diabetes. In particular, it would allow people with the condition to live a life of spontaneity and doing activities which those of us without diabetes often take for granted.”
How did you get into the field of type 1 diabetes research?
“When I arrived at the Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham as a trainee registrar, I was intending to be a cardiologist. But a six-month placement in a diabetes team changed that. The legendary diabetes researcher Robert Tattersall (who discovered MODY and introduced the world to self-monitoring blood glucose levels) was my boss. He was a wonderful teacher who taught me to listen to people with diabetes and learn for myself how much it asked of people in terms of self-management. He also showed me that it wasn’t the healthcare professionals who made the biggest impact on managing type 1, but instead how much the person themselves could learn and implement about this very complex condition. Robert inspired me to become a researcher and showed me what an interesting and important specialty diabetes is.”
What has been your career highlight so far?
“It’s hard to narrow it down. One highlight is bringing the DAFNE training course – which helps people with type 1 lead a healthy life – from Germany to the UK’s NHS. Another key achievement was discovering that repeated hypos lead to impaired awareness of hypoglycaemia and increased risk of hypoglycaemia. I feel fortunate that I have been involved in research which has made a difference to the lives of people with type 1.”
Tell us something we don’t know about diabetes or the pancreas
“When I was preparing a talk on hypoglycaemia, I learnt that the first definition of 1 unit of insulin was the amount of insulin which could cause an epileptic seizure in a rabbit. This is because over a hundred years ago when insulin was discovered, there was no way of measuring insulin amounts. I read this fact in a wonderful book by Michael Bliss titled The Discovery of Insulin.”
What are you currently working on?
“My main research project at the moment is working with researchers from the USA, UK and Australia on a large research trial. The study is testing what the most effective way of restoring the warnings for hypoglycaemia in people with type 1 who have lost them.”
What skills do you need to have to be a great researcher?
“From working with great researchers, I’ve learnt that they need to be curious, creative and persistent. The best clinical researchers listen to people with lived experience to ensure they address important questions.”
What do you like doing when you’re not working on research?
“I spend my spare time travelling to interesting places, reading, and listening to music – particularly opera. I also love spending time with my family and my three grandkids. Less rewarding in recent years has been my love for Tottenham Hotspur FC.”
What would you be doing if you weren’t a researcher?
“I can’t think of any other careers as rewarding as supporting patients. I’d be very happy just doing clinical work alone.”
News
Q&A with Professor Simon Heller
We spoke to Professor Simon Heller, world-renowned diabetes specialist and Chair of the Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge Scientific Advisory Panels, to find out about his research journey and hopes for the Grand Challenge
November 22, 2022
Professor Simon Heller is chair of all three scientific advisory panels in the Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge, covering beta cells, novel insulins and root causes of type 1 diabetes. Along with the leading experts who sit on these panels, Simon will help to steer the direction of the Grand Challenge to make sure our funding is invested in the right places, with the biggest potential to change the lives of people with type 1 diabetes. He is also Professor of Clinical Diabetes at the University of Sheffield and a world-renowned scientist, whose research has led the way in transforming our understanding of hypoglycaemia.
Why did you want to get involved with the Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge?
Simon: “It was a huge honour to be asked to assist in determining how this huge amount of funding could best be used to benefit type 1 diabetes research in the UK. It’s important to me to do my best to see our research move more quickly towards a cure for people with type 1.”
How do you think the Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge will be a game-changer for type 1 diabetes research?
“I hope that the Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge will allow the UK to play a major part in moving the research landscape closer to a cure. It will hopefully enable us to do something much more rapidly than we otherwise would be able to.”
What would a cure for type 1 diabetes look like to you?
“A cure would be removing the burden of day-to-day self-management of type 1 diabetes. In particular, it would allow people with the condition to live a life of spontaneity and doing activities which those of us without diabetes often take for granted.”
How did you get into the field of type 1 diabetes research?
“When I arrived at the Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham as a trainee registrar, I was intending to be a cardiologist. But a six-month placement in a diabetes team changed that. The legendary diabetes researcher Robert Tattersall (who discovered MODY and introduced the world to self-monitoring blood glucose levels) was my boss. He was a wonderful teacher who taught me to listen to people with diabetes and learn for myself how much it asked of people in terms of self-management. He also showed me that it wasn’t the healthcare professionals who made the biggest impact on managing type 1, but instead how much the person themselves could learn and implement about this very complex condition. Robert inspired me to become a researcher and showed me what an interesting and important specialty diabetes is.”
What has been your career highlight so far?
“It’s hard to narrow it down. One highlight is bringing the DAFNE training course – which helps people with type 1 lead a healthy life – from Germany to the UK’s NHS. Another key achievement was discovering that repeated hypos lead to impaired awareness of hypoglycaemia and increased risk of hypoglycaemia. I feel fortunate that I have been involved in research which has made a difference to the lives of people with type 1.”
Tell us something we don’t know about diabetes or the pancreas
“When I was preparing a talk on hypoglycaemia, I learnt that the first definition of 1 unit of insulin was the amount of insulin which could cause an epileptic seizure in a rabbit. This is because over a hundred years ago when insulin was discovered, there was no way of measuring insulin amounts. I read this fact in a wonderful book by Michael Bliss titled The Discovery of Insulin.”
What are you currently working on?
“My main research project at the moment is working with researchers from the USA, UK and Australia on a large research trial. The study is testing what the most effective way of restoring the warnings for hypoglycaemia in people with type 1 who have lost them.”
What skills do you need to have to be a great researcher?
“From working with great researchers, I’ve learnt that they need to be curious, creative and persistent. The best clinical researchers listen to people with lived experience to ensure they address important questions.”
What do you like doing when you’re not working on research?
“I spend my spare time travelling to interesting places, reading, and listening to music – particularly opera. I also love spending time with my family and my three grandkids. Less rewarding in recent years has been my love for Tottenham Hotspur FC.”
What would you be doing if you weren’t a researcher?
“I can’t think of any other careers as rewarding as supporting patients. I’d be very happy just doing clinical work alone.”
