Weill Cornell Medicine has received a four-year, $3.4 million grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, for a study of the details of the autoimmune process that causes Type 1 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes is a disease where the immune system destroys insulin-producing beta cells in pancreatic islets. The lack of insulin results in hyperglycemia and can lead to acute life-threatening complications such as diabetic ketoacidosis, a serious complication where the body is not able to use sugar for energy. Patients rely on insulin and careful monitoring of blood glucose levels. About 2 million Americans have Type 1 diabetes.

But how and why beta cells are attacked by immune cells has never been well understood, alth

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