Luminary Award recognises world-leading diabetes research
Paediatric endocrinologist and diabetes researcher, Professor Jennifer Couper has been presented with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation鈥檚 Luminary Award.
Professor Jennifer Couper has received the JDRF Luminary Award.
Recently presented at the JDRF Type 1 Diabetes Clinical Research Network Symposium in Sydney, the award acknowledges an outstanding researcher whose career has had a tremendous impact on the lives of people living with T1D.聽
鈥淭his was a big surprise and big honour but of course any of one's achievements are due to a big team of amazing people,鈥 Professor Couper said.聽
鈥淚t makes us all the more determined to ensure our research provides the best possible contributions.鈥澛
There are 150,000 people living with type 1 diabetes in Australia. Professor Couper鈥檚 research, conducted at the 成人大片鈥檚 Robinson Research Institute, seeks to understand the early origins of the development of the disease in children.聽
鈥淭hroughout her career, Prof Jenny Couper has been at the very pinnacle of her field. She heads the first investigation globally of the early life origins of [type 1 diabetes], the Environmental Determinants of Islet Autoimmunity (ENDIA) study,鈥 said Jonathan Salmon, Chair of the JDRF Research Committee.聽
For more than a decade, the ENDIA study has tracked 1500 Australian children with an immediate family member living with type 1 diabetes to investigate why some children develop type 1 diabetes and others do not.聽
It is the world鈥檚 first and largest study to identify how genetics and the environment interact from pregnancy through early childhood to drive or protect against the disease.聽
Researchers look at environmental exposures such as viral infection, the microbiome, immune function and nutrition, to understand their connection to onset of the lifelong auto-immune condition.聽
Professor Couper鈥檚 work has聽also shown which biomarkers are important in聽children with type 1 diabetes to detect cardiovascular disease early and intervene.聽