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Besides the challenges associated with their teenage years, adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) encounter additional challenges of having a chronic condition.
Co-head, Diabetes and Obesity Research
Congratulations to four outstanding early-career researchers from The Kids Research Institute Australia, who have been awarded BrightSpark Foundation fellowships and project funding for 2026.
Enteroviruses (EVs) have long been implicated in the development of islet autoimmunity (IA) and type 1 diabetes. However, given the ubiquity of EV infections in children, disease susceptibility is likely driven by host-specific immune responses rather than viral exposure alone.
The potential implementation of early type 1 diabetes (T1D) detection pathways, encompassing autoantibody screening and longitudinal monitoring, raises important psychosocial considerations for ethical, person-centred care. This review summarises evidence on the psychosocial impact of early T1D detection, identifying key evidence gaps and recommendations for integrating psychosocial support.
Adolescents and young adults with type 1 diabetes have an increased risk of psychological distress. To address this, psychological support provided asynchronously via an app may be feasible. Our study aimed to explore feasibility and safety of the LIFT wellbeing app.
Adolescence is a period of rapid transformation when meeting targets for optimal diabetes care is often challenging due to competing life demands. For more than two decades a diabetes transition clinic in Sydney, Australia, has sustained positive outcomes and demonstrated aspects of resilience in the care of individuals living with type 1 diabetes (T1D) who have transitioned from paediatric to adult care. Many studies have focused on resilience in acute care setting showever, studies that examine the factors that support resilience in settings that care for individuals with long-term, chronic conditions such as T1D are lacking.
To explore trends in the receipt of commonly prescribed medications (beyond insulin) in people with type 1 diabetes in Australia, including polypharmacy, and to investigate socioeconomic disparities across these trends.
Children and young people with type 1 diabetes (T1D) experience high rates of mental ill health and stress due to the emotional and cognitive energy required to manage their condition. Our team has codesigned Wellbeing T1D, a brief trauma-informed online intervention for adolescents living with T1D. This 5-week intervention will teach skills to promote problem solving, improve emotional regulation and promote helpful thinking and coping.
Islet autoantibodies herald early type 1 diabetes. However, less is known of the evolution of autoantibodies to the islet autoantigen ZnT8. Our primary aim was to characterise the development of islet autoantibodies in a pregnancy-birth at-risk cohort and to provide new knowledge about ZnT8A.