Indiana University School of Medicine has announced a three-year, $1.1 million grant from the Helmsley Charitable Trust to advance screening strategies for the early detection of Type 1 diabetes.

The grant will support the Finding Immune Nascent Diabetes project, which will use the Indiana Biobank, a statewide initiative co-developed by the IU School of Medicine and Indiana University Health to advance disease and treatment research. Leveraging the biobank’s health and genetic data, the research team will analyze DNA samples and calculate genetic risk scores to determine the feasibility of the strategy to identify people at high risk for developing Type 1 diabetes. In addition, the grant will support the early-stage diabetes clinic at IU and Riley Children’s Health, which provides at-risk and newly diagnosed individuals with comprehensive care and support.

“While a family history of Type 1 diabetes increases risk, the disease often appears without a family history, so we want to screen beyond that population,” said IU School of Medicine associate professor of pediatrics and the project’s lead investigator Emily Sims. “Finding these people can feel like looking for a needle in a haystack, which is why we’re taking advantage of the genetic data available through the Indiana Biobank.”

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