Breakthrough T1Ds Greater Los Angeles Chapter is proud to partner with three Southern California institutions that are changing what is possible for people with type 1 diabetes (T1D): the Cedars-Sinai Biomanufacturing Center, City of Hope, and the Sansum Diabetes Research Institute. Each partnership takes on a different part of the challenge, from manufacturing cell therapies to protecting beta cells to finding T1D before symptoms start. Together, they help us make everyday life with T1D better while driving toward cures.
Cedars-Sinai Biomanufacturing Center: Partnering to Build the Supply for Cell Therapies
Cell therapies could one day let people with T1D make their own insulin again. But there is a basic problem to solve first: there are not enough insulin-producing cells to go around. The only FDA-approved cell therapy for T1D relies on donor cells, and it can take up to three pancreases to supply one transplant. The answer is manufacturing islets in the lab at scale, and that is where our partnership with the Cedars-Sinai Biomanufacturing Center comes in.
Cedars-Sinai launched the center in West Hollywood to produce next-generation stem cell and gene therapies, and it is built to move lab protocols into cGMP manufacturing that meets FDA standards. Breakthrough T1D is building this partnership to help create a dependable supply of manufactured islets, drawing on the center’s expertise in stem cell biology and bioprocessing. The work is part of Project ACT (Accelerate Cell Therapies), our effort to advance manufactured islet therapies that do not require broad immunosuppression.
City of Hope: Partnering to Turn Research Into Cures
City of Hope is a partner in our drive toward cures and a leader in diabetes research. Its research led to the development of synthetic human insulin in 1978, which is still used today. That same drive is now focused on cures. City of Hope’s Arthur Riggs Diabetes & Metabolism Research Institute is working to understand what causes T1D and to develop therapies that can prevent and reverse it.
The pipeline is active right now. City of Hope sponsors WAVE T1D, a trial of low-dose ATG followed by adalimumab or verapamil in children and young adults with new-onset T1D. A pilot trial of CD6-CAR Treg cells, engineered immune cells designed to calm the autoimmune attack, is planned for adults. City of Hope is also leading a trial of an osteoporosis medication to improve beta cell health in people with early T1D. These are the kinds of disease-modifying approaches that can protect the beta cells people still have.
Sansum Diabetes Research Institute: Partnering to Find T1D Early
Our Greater Los Angeles Chapter reaches from LA to Santa Barbara, and in Santa Barbara our partner is the Sansum Diabetes Research Institute. Together we are focused on finding T1D earlier. Sansum’s Screen & Treat pilot program, offered in collaboration with Breakthrough T1D and Sanofi, includes a free blood test for T1D-related autoantibodies, a personalized risk report, and access to treatment options for presymptomatic T1D, including teplizumab (Tzield). The stakes are real. Without screening, 1 in 4 children and many adults are diagnosed in life-threatening diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), and detecting T1D in its earlier stages can reduce that risk by up to 50%.
Our partnership also reaches families directly. We bring the Santa Barbara community together at our Community Summit at UC Santa Barbara, where Breakthrough T1D and Sansum share research updates, how clinical trials and early screening matter, and what current research could mean for people with T1D.