Biomedical Research and Innovation Platform

• The Group’s longstanding innovative research on early changes leading to Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) has resulted in the discovery and characterisation of previously unreported pathological changes related to the very early stages of development of the disease, prior to raised blood sugar levels.  The Group is currently investigating their potential as very early markers of people at risk of developing T2D.  These markers will be able to identify the risk of developing T2D at a much earlier stage than any other marker available to date, allowing significantly earlier intervention and treatment and, hopefully, prevent the secondary effects of T2D which affects both the quality of life and leads to the early death of people.

• The group has also established and characterised several animal models for further research, including an insulin resistant rat model for typical symptoms of early-stage type-2 diabetes, a streptozotocin model typical of type-1 diabetes and a triglyceride model representing the ‘metabolic syndrome’ (Syndrome X) patient who is at risk of developing type-2 diabetes. These models enable in depth research of type-2 diabetes and type-1 diabetes.  Particularly how the disease develops, what external factors induce and/or promote the disease and the process by which this occurs.

• Many plants of Southern African or African origin have been claimed to have anti-diabetic properties. The group’s investigations have already been successful in identifying two plants for their efficacy in treating aspects of the broader metabolic syndrome.

The South African Medical Research Council participates in the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases, a collaboration of major international research funding agencies that support joint funding calls and research capacity building activities to address chronic, non-communicable diseases. The alliance focuses on implementation research in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs) and in vulnerable and indigenous populations in high-income countries (HICs).

The GACD have announced the launch of the Implementation Science e-Hub. The e-Hub is a free, virtual platform for knowledge and skill development in implementation research. It is intended for researchers, students, policymakers and practitioners at any stage in their career, from anywhere in the world, interested in improving their knowledge of implementation research, especially its application for the prevention and management of non-communicable diseases in low-resource settings.

For further information, visit https://gacd.org/research/implementation-science-capacity-building/implementation-science-e-hub 

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