Bill Hagopian has devoted his career to finding ways to predict and prevent Type 1 diabetes for people at high risk. His groundbreaking work with the TEDDY Study is unlocking new clues.
Bill Hagopian, MD, PhD, a researcher at the Pacific Northwest Research Institute (PNRI), is part of the TEDDY study, a groundbreaking international study following more than 8,000 children with high genetic risk for the disease.
In October 2018, Bill and his TEDDY colleagues published two papers in Nature that explore the infant diet and the gut microbiome – the bacteria that grow in the intestines in response to birth, food, and environment. Researchers are learning how the microbiome can unlock clues into the development of Type 1 diabetes, further helping them understand why some children at high risk for Type 1 diabetes develop the disease – and why others do not.
“In the TEDDY study, we have followed children from infancy for over a decade now. It is a very exciting time since the data has now matured enough to assess major trends. I believe many interesting findings about the development of Type 1 diabetes are soon on their way,” he says.
Unlocking the body’s innate ability to remain healthy in the face of genetic and environmental risk is core to PNRI’s research. Not just in Type 1 diabetes, but in a variety of diseases from Alzheimer’s to cancer.
