EVMS receives $1 million grant for diabetes research

NORFOLK

Researchers at Eastern Virginia Medical School have received a $1 million federal grant to develop ways to reverse the causes of Type 1 diabetes.

EVMS officials announced Thursday that the school's Strelitz Diabetes Center was awarded the grant from the Department of Defense for a study already under way. The center is trying to find ways to stop the destruction of insulin-producing cells.

Type 1 diabetes is caused by an autoimmune attack that destroys beta cells, which produce insulin. The researchers will use the grant to test several experimental drugs they hope will neutralize the autoimmune attack and regenerate beta cells.

The researchers, led by David Taylor-Fishwick, an associate professor of internal medicine, hope the treatments, if successful, could also be used for autoimmune diseases such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

The grant comes from the Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program, which funds research to eradicate diseases.