University of British Columbia is home to the first JDRF Centre of Excellence in type 1 diabetes in Canada, joining other locations as one of just five Centres worldwide.
What is a JDRF Centre of Excellence?
A Centre of Excellence is a cost-effective innovation hub that leverages existing research facilities, talent and infrastructure, which allows dollars to be funnelled to research rather than overhead, and provides the framework to move type 1 diabetes research to that next frontier. Designed to foster highly dynamic, nimble work, this model will drive discovery with maximum speed. By providing a team of researchers with long-term, stable funding, guided by a joint governance structure, a Centre of Excellence overcomes the stop-start cycle of conventional grants that can mean researchers must pause their work to apply for new funding.
The Centre of Excellence model allows scientists to focus on collaborative approaches to research, and gives them the ability to quickly pivot to pursue the most promising directions. This ensures they maintain momentum that is vital to translate discoveries into clinical treatments. The Centre of Excellence research model is distinct from conventional grants in that it provides stable, long-term funding to a large and multidisciplinary research team collaboratively driving multiple projects in parallel, all focused on a unified goal of developing cures for T1D.
Why a centre of excellence in Type 1 Diabetes
in Vancouver?
Vancouver is already home to a collective of world-renowned experts working on T1D research across several top-tier institutions: The University of British Columbia, BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, and Vancouver General Hospital. The diversity of expertise among these experts spans all of the areas that are essential for addressing the cross-disciplinary challenge of bringing cures for T1D to fruition. In addition to being international leaders in immunology, beta cell physiology, and stem cell biology, this group has a track record of translating basic discoveries to early-phase clinical trials that test new treatments, as well as working with industry partners on T1D solutions. On an individual basis, JDRF has provided conventional grant funding and worked closely with many of these Vancouver-based investigators for years, supporting a proven wealth of discovery research, clinical trials, and postdoctoral fellows.
The three main scientific goals are driven forward by integrated teams led by the centre’s lead scientists.
The lead scientists manage teams consisting of a number of co-investigators, collaborators, staff and highly talented trainees. Along with the solid infrastructure at UBC located at the Life Sciences Institute and BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute these teams join efforts to move the frontiers of T1D research forward.
None of this research would be possible without patients, their families and donors.
Additional JDRF Centers of Excellence
