Scottish Diabetes Research Network Type 1 Bioresource (SDRNT1BIO)
The SDRNT1BIO is a research collaboration involving researchers, clinicians and people with diabetes.
It was established during 2010-13 and involved 6,127 participants, aged 16 years and older, across 12 Scottish NHS Health Boards. Participants volunteered to be part of this research when they were asked during their diabetic review visits at hospital and GP clinics. Participants provided blood and urine samples to be stored for use in research projects. They also agreed for researchers to have access to their electronic health care records over time. Many participants also agreed to have any spare blood from samples taken during routine clinic visits stored for research.
Purpose
There are many things doctors and researchers still don’t understand about Type 1 diabetes. For example, we do not fully understand why some people get Type 1 diabetes or how to prevent it. We also do not fully understand why some people seem prone to getting complications of diabetes and others do not. If we could do better at predicting who would get complications, we might be able to intervene earlier and more intensively in those most at risk. Furthermore, some people with a single gene underlying their diabetes (Monogenic Diabetes) continue to be diagnosed as having Type 1 diabetes- we need to improve how we detect monogenic diabetes. We need large studies in order to answer these questions.
The people of Scotland with Type 1 diabetes can make a unique contribution to this research because Scotland has one of the best registers in the world of who has diabetes. This register shows that there are approximately 30,000 people with Type 1 diabetes in Scotland.
The SDRNT1BIO was therefore created as a large set of samples and data from people with Type 1 diabetes in Scotland. We call this collection of samples and data a “bioresource”. More than 85% of those invited to participate did so, which demonstrates how important people with Type 1 diabetes in Scotland view driving forward research into their condition. We are using the SDRNT1BIO to facilitate a wide range of research into the causes of Type 1 diabetes, diabetes complications and monogenic diabetes. We measure genetic and other "biomarkers" such as proteins and metabolites in the samples taken, before combining this with information on the course of diabetes from the clinical record to discover new knowledge.
Aims
Some of the aims of the SDRNT1BIO are:
- Discovery and validation of genetic determinants of type 1 diabetes
- Discovery and validation of genetic determinants of complications of type 1 diabetes e.g. diabetic kidney disease and cardiovascular disease
- Identify biomarkers in blood and/or urine that might predict the development of diabetes complications
- Identify subgroups (stratification) of people with type 1 diabetes and monogenic diabetes
- Identify environmental and socio-economic determinants of type 1 diabetes
Contact
To contact the Study Co-ordinator, email: SDRNT1BIO@ed.ac.uk
Funding
The SDRNT1BIO was established with joint funding from the Scottish Chief Scientist Office and Diabetes UK.
Research using data and resources sourced by the SDRNT1BIO is funded by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and Diabetes UK.
Acknowledgements
We thank the participants and NHS Staff who took part in this study.