The Queen's Anniversary Prize recognises the world-class work of the Peninsula Medical School in combating diabetes.

The Queen's Anniversary Prize

The University has been awarded the prestigious Queen's Anniversary Prize for the third time.

The most recent award was made to a team of scientists who have transformed the lives of hundreds of diabetes sufferers.

The Queen’s Anniversary Prize recognises the world-class work of the Peninsula Medical School in combating diabetes. Scientists have identified new forms of diabetes, developed new treatments and then trained frontline medical staff to use them. Their work has meant that hundreds of patients, many of them children or babies, have been able to come off insulin injections and transfer to tablets. This has made it much easier for patients to control their blood sugar levels and dramatically improved their quality of life.

The scientists’ research focuses on ‘monogenic’ diabetes. This is much less common than Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, but nevertheless affects around 50,000 people in the UK alone. Monogenic diabetes itself comprises many different subtypes, all resulting from changes in a single gene.

Professor Andrew Hattersley, who leads the research team, said: ‘It is only in recent years that we have begun to identify and unravel monogenic diabetes. It means that many patients have been misdiagnosed and treated as if they were suffering from the more common forms of the condition. We have patients who have been injecting insulin for 20 years or more who can now treat their diabetes with tablets.’

As the genetic subtypes of diabetes were unknown until the 1990s, integrating this new genetic knowledge into clinical care is a major educational problem. Most healthcare professionals have had little or no training in genetics. Maggie Shepherd and Sian Ellard, who work with Professor Hattersley, have therefore launched a variety of educational initiatives. These include a website for patients and healthcare professionals (www.diabetesgenes.org) and educational programmes for doctors and nurses, Most importantly, with funding from the Department of Health, they have set up a training programme in genetics for specialist diabetes nurses throughout the UK.

Diabetes patient Tracey Davies, from Yeovil, is one patient who has benefited from this work. She was able to transfer to tablets after 17 years of injections.

Said Mrs Davies: ‘It’s made an amazing difference. For years I had to inject insulin before every meal ­ I was a walking pin cushion! When I was first diagnosed no-one knew about monogenic diabetes so the research done at Exeter has really made a difference to people like me.’

A major future challenge is to define the genetic susceptibility to Type 2 diabetes, the commonest form of diabetes, and to use this information to improve both treatment and prevention. This will only be achieved if studies can be performed with a sufficient sample size to ensure sufficient power to enable the multiple genetic components to be defined. The Exeter scientists have collaborated with colleagues in Oxford, Imperial College, Queen Elizabeth College, London, Cambridge  and Newcastle to establish a unique collection of DNA from patients with diabetes and has played a central role in collaborations within the UK and internationally.

This trailblazing work is important because it points to the next phase of medicine.  Rather than trying to define what is best for a group of patients with a condition such as diabetes it becomes important to subdivide this group so that doctors can make a more individualised choice on medicines that are best for this specific patient.

This is the second Queen’s prize won by a member of staff at the Peninsula Medical School. The Dean, Professor John Tooke, won a Queen’s Prize in 1996 also for work on diabetes. It is the third Prize won by the University.

Date: 24 September 2007