European award for diabetes research to Joan Camuñas

“I am extremely grateful for the support from EFSD and the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The award gives our research greater visibility and opens new opportunities for collaboration with clinical groups across Europe,” says Joan Camuñas.

Developing research methods

His group develops advanced methods to understand how diabetes develops, with the goal of identifying the earliest changes in the pancreas that lead to the disease.

“We want to link cell function to gene expression at the tissue level — and ultimately across the whole pancreas. In this way, we can identify early changes that affect insulin secretion and the overall health of insulin-producing β-cells,” Camuñas explains.

Unexpected changes

The group has developed, among other things, a method that combines whole-cell physiology with single-cell RNA sequencing (patch-seq) in human pancreatic tissue. This approach has revealed unexpected changes in β-cell function and shown how a maladaptive response can reduce β-cell capacity during type 2 diabetes.

They have also created non-invasive blood tests for metabolic diseases and pregnancy complications such as preterm birth and preeclampsia. Some of these technologies have already been validated in large clinical studies and are now on their way into healthcare.