New Research Grant Could Reshape How We Understand Type 1 Diabetes Origins

Researchers at Hebrew University's Faculty of Medicine have been awarded one of Europe's most selective and competitive research grants—the European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant. The funding, granted through the European Union's Horizon Europe programme, recognizes senior scientists pursuing ambitious projects with the potential for major scientific breakthroughs.

Prof. Yuval Dor and Dr. Agnès Klochendler, working at The Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada, will use the grant to investigate a novel theory about how type 1 diabetes begins. Their work represents a departure from decades of research focused on external triggers.

For years, researchers have focused on viral infections as the primary trigger for type 1 diabetes. The standard understanding goes like this: a virus infects a person, the immune system responds, and in some individuals, that response turns against the body's own insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas.

Dor and Klochendler's research proposes a different mechanism entirely. They suggest the disease may originate not from external infection, but from within the beta cells themselves—specifically from problems with RNA editing, a cellular process that fine-tunes how genes are expressed. Their hypothesis is that defects in this internal process might be what actually kicks off the autoimmune attack.

If the researchers' model is correct, it could fundamentally change how scientists think about type 1 diabetes prevention and treatment. Understanding the genuine earliest events in the disease—before the immune system attacks—opens the possibility of intervening at that critical stage.

The team's work is focused on uncovering entirely new mechanisms underlying type 1 diabetes. Such discoveries could lead to novel prevention strategies and treatments designed to stop the disease process before significant damage occurs to beta cells.

This research grant is significant not just for its funding amount, but for what it represents: recognition from Europe's most competitive scientific funding body that this team is asking important questions in new ways. The ERC Advanced Grant is designed specifically to support high-risk, high-reward research that challenges existing assumptions.

For the type 1 diabetes community, this work reminds us that our understanding of the disease is still evolving. New insights into how type 1 diabetes actually begins could reshape prevention and treatment approaches for decades to come.

Origin: eurekalert.org (News report). Evidence: News report — unverified, pending corroboration. Type1Cure is an information and intelligence hub, not a medical advice service. This article summarizes published research and does not provide diagnosis, treatment, or personal medical guidance. Always talk to your own care team before changing anything about your Type 1 diabetes management.