Heiko Lickert, Director of the Institute of Diabetes and Regeneration Research (IDR) at Helmholtz Munich and W3 Professor and Chair of Beta Cell Biology at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), has been awarded an ERC Proof of Concept (PoC) Grant. The European Research Council (ERC) is supporting the next step with this funding: translating Lickert's research findings into clinical application.
The Receptor “Inceptor” as the Starting Point for a New Therapy
The number of people with diabetes is rising worldwide. As diabetes progresses, the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas gradually lose their function, stop responding to insulin, and eventually die.
Current medications cannot halt the progression of the disease; they can only treat its symptoms. This is exactly where Lickert's BetaProtect project comes in: it builds on the discovery of the insulin-inhibitory receptor "Inceptor" by Lickert and his team.
Next Step Toward Clinical Application
Building on promising results in mouse models, the team aims to develop a novel therapy for type 2 diabetes that could, ideally, even reverse the course of the disease. When the researchers blocked the receptor in mice, the cells responded better to insulin, remained functional longer, and even regenerated.
With the support of the ERC Proof of Concept Grant, the spin-off company Viacure aims to leverage these basic research findings for the preclinical and clinical development of a therapy.
