UBC launches Canada’s first JDRF Centre of Excellence in Type 1 diabetes research

“The JDRF Centre of Excellence at UBC will transform Type 1 diabetes research in Canada, sparking new collaborations, removing barriers and accelerating progress toward a cure.”
Dr. Bruce Verchere

The UBC Faculty of Medicine is launching Canada’s first JDRF Centre of Excellence in Type 1 diabetes research. The Centre is being established in partnership with JDRF Canada, the largest Canadian charitable funder of Type 1 diabetes research, toward a singular purpose: curing Type 1 diabetes.

The JDRF Centre of Excellence at UBC is the first in Canada and among only five Centres worldwide.

The new Centre will unite the world-leading expertise of UBC researchers and partnerships with industry, health care, government and academia to foster the rapid translation of discoveries into new treatments that could one day lead to a cure.

Co-leads of the Centre include UBC professors Drs. Bruce Verchere, James Johnson, Megan Levings and Francis Lynn, as well as JDRF’s Dr. Sarah Linklater. The team includes researchers, clinicians and scientific staff across three UBC-affiliated sites, including the Life Sciences Institute, BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute and Vancouver General Hospital. Together, they will drive research projects across three themes—developing new sources of insulin-producing beta cells; protecting beta cells from immune attack; and regulating beta cell stress.

The highly dynamic and collaborative model will allow researchers to drive multiple projects in parallel and quickly pivot to the most promising research.

For more information visit:

UBC Faculty of Medicine: https://www.med.ubc.ca/news/ubc-launches-canadas-first-jdrf-centre-of-excellence-in-type-1-diabetes-research/

JDRF Canada: https://www.jdrf.ca/news/jdrf-canada-first-centre-of-excellence-in-type-1-diabetes-research-launches-at-ubc/