UCSF’s long-standing commitment to diabetes research has placed it squarely at forefront of diabetes research for decades, both type 1 and type 2. With a rich history of breakthrough discoveries, UCSF has attracted numerous world-leaders to its team of researchers.

The UCSF commitment to finding a cure for diabetes is stronger than ever. With expanding facilities and faculty, a new state-of-the-art Islet Transplantation Center and a renewed vision, the Diabetes Center team is charging headlong towards the day when a lasting cure for diabetes is within our grasp.

Much of our research focusses squarely on the development techniques, therapies and new tools that show promise of a day when diabetes is but a memory. A primary objective is to place the remaining pieces in the puzzle that is islet transplantation, developing new, inexhaustible sources of islet cells and thwarting the bodies natural rejection of by making immune tolerance a clinical reality. New therapeutics based upon natural products are also under investigation for type 2 diabetes, just one of many late-breaking therapies in clinical trials at the Diabetes Center.

In working towards a cure, we also imagine a day when diabetes simply never occurs, and so research aimed at preventing it's development, both type 1 and type 2, is another of our lofty goals. From identifying and analysing genes that predispose individuals to the disease, to early interventions that stop diabetes in its tracks, Diabetes Center researchers have made headlines around the world with their ground-breaking diabetes prevention research.

But for most people living with diabetes, a cure cannot come soon enough. The numerous and serious secondary complications that come with diabetes - vision, circulation, kidney, neurological and other - will not wait for a cure. That is why the Diabetes Center's extended network of experts in metabolism, opthamology, nutrition, endocrinology, molecular and cell biology, human genetics, and a range of scientific disciplines continue their research to alleviate the pain and suffering that represents the real human cost of diabetes.

Please, take some time to explore the world of research at the Diabetes Center at UCSF. We hope that in these pages, you will find at least a portion of the hope that motivates each and every member of the UCSF team.