The overall goal of the Center is to develop innovative, effective therapies for preventing the development and progression of diabetic complications in people with Type 1 diabetes. We are a 21st century global research center, bringing together leading research groups from academic institutions on three continents who have complimentary strengths in nearly every aspect of complications research: The Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, the Baker Heart Research Institute in Melbourne, and the University of Heidelberg.

The Center has three major objectives:
(1) to determine the primary mechanisms by which hyperglycemia causes both the microvascular and the macrovascular complications of Type 1 diabetes: nephropathy, retinopathy, neuropathy and atherosclerosis;
(2) to elucidate the molecular basis for hyperglycemic memory; and
(3) to develop effective therapies for preventing the development and progression of diabetic complications.

The unifying theme of the center is the central role of reactive oxygen species in the activation of pathways mediating hyperglycemic damage, in the transduction of hyperglycemia-induced signals, and in the maintenance of continued post-hyperglycemic damage. A lecture by the Center’s Director which summarizes the JDRF-supported scientific discoveries underlying the Center’s projects can be viewed by clicking under the photograph at right.

All of the projects in this Center share the same overriding aim: to develop innovative, highly effective therapies for preventing the development and progression of retinopathy, nephropathy, neuropathy, and atherosclerosis in Type I patients, and by partnership with the National Institute of Health's Type 1 Diabetes – Rapid Access to Intervention Development (T1 D-RAID), to minimize the time needed to obtain investigational new drug status from the FDA, so that results from the bench can be rapidly translated into clinical trials.