100 Years of Insulin: Accelerating Canadian Discoveries to Defeat Diabetes

Message from the CIHR Scientific Director Co-leads - 100 Years of Insulin: Accelerating Canadian Discoveries to Defeat Diabetes

In 2021, Canada will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin, a discovery that changed the lives of millions of people in Canada and around the world, and won Canadian researchers F.G. Banting and J.J.R. Macleod the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The discovery of insulin is arguably one of the most important in the history of medicine and one of the most dramatic examples of rapid translation of a discovery in basic science into a benefit for patients.

The goal of 100 Years of Insulin: Accelerating Canadian Discoveries to Defeat Diabetes, is to develop new preventive and therapeutic paradigms that reverse the upward trajectory of diabetes prevalence and associated morbidities, and reduce the impact of diabetes on individuals, families and communities.

The objectives of this initiative are:

1. To elucidate previously undefined mechanisms that control the onset and progression of all types of diabetes mellitus and related complications.
2. To develop translational solutions aimed at prevention, treatment, and delivery of care for people living with diabetes to:
   1. Accelerate stem cell research aimed at physiological insulin replacement for people with type 1 diabetes.
   2. Develop new therapeutic strategies aimed at metabolic reset and reversal of type 2 diabetes.
   3. Develop and implement effective models of care delivery aimed at improving diabetes care and patient outcomes.
3. To define and integrate models of resilience and wellness into diabetes prevention and treatment approaches among First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples that are Indigenous-led and community-driven to reverse the upward trajectory of diabetes in these communities.

100 Years of Insulin: Accelerating Canadian Discoveries to Defeat Diabetes is led by the CIHR Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes, along with the co-lead Institutes of Infection and Immunity, Genetics and Indigenous Peoples Health, in collaboration with the Institutes of Aging, Circulatory and Respiratory Health, Gender and Health, Human Development, Child and Youth Health, Health Services and Policy Research, Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis, and Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction.

Date modified:

2022-07-29