Description: Although the discovery of insulin was a major breakthrough in the treatment of diabetes, it was not a cure. Today, diabetes has reached epidemic proportions and it is predicted that this disease will afflict more than 300 million people world-wide by the year 2010. Research in the diabetes field continues throughout the world in the hopes that better methods of detection and prevention will be developed and that better drugs will be discovered to treat this debilitating disease. The Endocrinology and Diabetes Research Group (EDRG) at the University of Toronto continues the tradition of diabetes research as inspired by Banting, Best, MacLeod, and Collip. Our group comprises many distinguished researchers who are at the forefront of their respective fields in the study of endocrine disorders. Areas of research range from the study of diabetes, obesity, endocrine development and dysfunction to that of intestinal and pancreatic growth factors. In the areas of diabetes and obesity, specific fields of study include beta cell transplantation and secretory dynamics, insulin resistance, in vivo carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, and neuroendocrine adaptations to diabetes. Our group is also active in the search for possible therapies for the prevention and treatment of diabetes. This work includes the study of new drugs to treat Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes and the development of novel ways to restore endogenous insulin secretion through islet transplantation and gene therapy techniques. The group is also highly active in the area of appetite control and the prevention of obesity and Type 2 diabetes.
