News

“It gave me my life back”: Lived experience of fully closed-loop insulin delivery in adolescents with type 1 diabetes

19 January 2026

A recent study from the Hovorka group at the IMS-MRL, has shown that in adolescents with type 1 diabetes, fully closed-loop insulin delivery reduced the daily burden of self-management, leading to improved quality of life. In the study which was published in Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice and led by Nithya...

graphical abstract summarising the paper

What can studying genetics in dogs, humans and mice tell us about the timing of puberty?

13 January 2026

Researchers at the University of Cambridge studying the melanocortin 3 receptor (MC3R) and its role in regulating both appetite and reproduction have found that the receptor is important for relaying the body’s nutritional status to control the timing of puberty in mice, dogs and humans. Led by Katie Duckett from the O’...

Balancing maternal benefits and cardiovascular risks of metformin during pregnancy

9 January 2026

Metformin is the most common medication used to treat diabetes in pregnancy. Although it is beneficial for the mother and safe for her baby, metformin easily reaches the baby’s bloodstream with unknown effects on long-term offspring health. In a recent study, published in The Journal of Physiology (picked as the Editor’s...

Double accolade for diabetes technology research

6 January 2026

Congratulations to Professor Roman Hovorka on being awarded the 2025 Manpei Suzuki International Prize for Diabetes Research in recognition of his pioneering contributions over the years to develop a glucose control algorithm for the closed-loop insulin delivery system and conducting clinical trials demonstrating safety...

Use of weight-loss drugs during pregnancy: implications for mother and baby

16 December 2025

A review article published in Clinical Science by Professor Sue Ozanne and Dr Laura Dearden looks at the current literature on the effects of certain weight-loss drugs - GLP1-R agonists, such as Semaglutide and Tirzepatide - in pregnancy on maternal and offspring health and explores the potential broader impacts of their...

European Research Council grant for Dr Eleanor Raffan, Affiliated PI

16 December 2025

Eight University of Cambridge researchers including Dr Eleanor Raffan , Affiliated PI at the IMS-MRL, will receive a share of the European Research Council’s (ERC) record €728 million Consolidator Grant awards this year. The grants support mid-career researchers to carry out cutting-edge research projects lasting up to...

DDEA Strategic Partnership Postdoctoral Fellowship awarded to Dr Chris Bannon

3 December 2025

We are delighted to announce that Dr Chris Bannon has been awarded a Strategic Partnership Postdoctoral Fellowship by the Danish Diabetes and Endocrine Academy (DDEA). A key component of the fellowship funding will be a collaboration with Dr Anne-Marie Ellegaard's group at the Center for Clinical Metabolic Research (CCMR)...

European Research Council funds ground-breaking research into the instinctive nature of human behaviour

6 November 2025

Three research groups from the University of Cambridge, the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre at UCL and the University of South Florida (USF) have been awarded a highly prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Synergy Grant to study the biology of instinctive behaviour. Some types of animal behaviour are instinctive in that...

Human MC4R deficiency is associated with low lipid levels and reduced cardiovascular risk.

16 October 2025

Commonly, obesity is associated with higher levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol and triglycerides and low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol, factors which increase cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. However, the mechanisms which link obesity to changes in lipid levels are poorly...

picture of a finger prick tests for diabetes

New findings support low-dose ATG to delay progression of type 1 diabetes in children and young people

23 September 2025

New research presented at this year's Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Vienna, Austria (15-19 September) and published simultaneously in The Lancet shows that a much lower dose than previously thought of a well-known drug used in transplantation immunology, anti-thymocyte...