Accelerating cures: Four new grants from the Breakthrough T1D x Stem Cell Network Partnership

We’ve made major progress in the development of cell replacement therapies for type 1 diabetes (T1D) over the past few decades. We know that manufactured islets can be safely implanted into people and produce insulin. Yet, there is more work to do to advance cell therapy research and bring these therapies to the larger T1D community. Breakthrough T1D’s Project ACT (Accelerate Cell Therapies) will make manufactured cell replacement therapies that do not require broad immunosuppression a reality, faster.

The Breakthrough T1D x Stem Cell Network Partnership

To drive innovation in manufactured islet therapies, Breakthrough T1D, Breakthrough T1D Canada, and the Stem Cell Network (SCN) have partnered to support four new projects led by Canadian researchers. The organizations issued a joint Request for Applications and together will maximize resources to drive high-impact research into manufactured cells. This partnership is a novel and meaningful part of Breakthrough T1D’s global Project ACT effort to power high-impact cell therapies research.

“Accelerating cell therapies is a central focus of Breakthrough T1D’s research strategy to drive toward cures for type 1 diabetes,” said Breakthrough T1D Vice President of Research Esther Latres, Ph.D. “We’re excited to join Stem Cell Network and Breakthrough T1D Canada in funding these outstanding cell therapy researchers and projects that can build on the current momentum to overcome barriers and advance cell therapies that can benefit all those who live with type 1 diabetes.”

These projects will receive support from May 2025 to April 2027. They are a part of a broader SCN investment totaling more than $33 million to support 36 regenerative medicine research projects and clinical trials.

Read on to learn more about the exciting, newly funded projects.

 A closer look at the projects

Current cell therapies for T1D, while often effective, are hampered by reliance upon donor-derived cells and poor cell survival after transplant, necessitating large doses of cells and repeat procedures.  This ambitious new project will address both the source of islet cells and the low cell survival rates associated with islet transplantation by accelerating Lunar Therapeutics’ preclinical development of a manufactured islet replacement product. Takebe’s lab describes it as “complex miniature organs” for T1D.  

This product will consist not only of insulin-producing cells, but also endothelial cells, which line blood vessels. Endothelial cells will support islet cell survival and engraftment upon transplantation.  

Organoid

An organoid is a three-dimensional tissue grown in the lab that resembles an organ.

To accomplish this objective, Lunar Therapeutics will bring together Canadian expertise in manufactured islets and clinical islet transplantation led by Drs. Timothy Kieffer and James Shapiro. The team will also include U.S.-based Dr. Takanori Takebe, who specializes in designing complex organoids composed of various cell types. Using technologies developed across each laboratory, this multidisciplinary team will work to address challenges in islet cell transplantation.  

The implantation of manufactured islets into people with T1D can restore insulin production, eliminating the for external insulin and improving quality of life. However, after islet cells are derived from donors or manufactured in the lab, they must be stored before being used to treat a person with T1D. Currently, the storage and transportation of islet cells is difficult, and the only storage method is freezing at low temperatures in the presence of chemical solutions that help with the freezing process. However, these solutions cause cell death during thawing and may also cause allergic reactions in people after transplantation.   

This project will address this gap in the field by aiming to develop non-toxic, naturally derived gels to optimize islet freezing and storage. The gel-based products will be evaluated for large-scale commercial production. The success of this project will provide new intellectual property that will be of interest to researchers and companies in regenerative medicine in Canada and across the globe. 

Manufactured islets offer a potentially unlimited source of islets for transplantation. Since manufactured islets carry unique risks compared to donor-derived islets, containment within a device could allow retrieval if off-target growth ever occurs. However, encapsulation devices that have been tested in clinical trials so far and have shown minimal success, mainly because blood supply to the cells is limited by the device barrier. In this project, the team proposes to develop a device where the manufactured islets are placed around pre-established vessels that can improve islet cell survival and speed of insulin responses via improved blood supply. In this project, they will optimize their device design and conduct advanced preclinical studies. 
 
This project could lead to better survival and function of manufactured islets, so they can keep producing insulin. The project may also pave the way for other engineered human-scale encapsulation devices, also sometimes called bioartificial organs.

There are many new treatments on the horizon for T1D, including those that block autoimmunity or replace insulin-producing cells. However, a major barrier to these therapies is the lack of an easy-to-use model in which their effects on human cells can be tested before advancing to human trials. The standard preclinical model is to test therapies in small animal models of T1D, but this has significant limitations since it is nearly impossible to replicate the human immune system. In fact, diabetes has been “cured” hundreds of times in a mouse model, which has not translated to humans. 
 
To overcome this barrier, Dr. Levings and her team will establish a new a model that recreates human T1D autoimmunity in the lab. The model will use manufactured cells to create the three types of cells that are involved in the disease: insulin-producing cells and two different types of immune cells. Using the model, cells can then be combined in different ways to recreate what usually happens during autoimmunity. 
 
A model of human T1D that can be generated in the lab will help test potential treatments and prompt new questions about why T1D develops, and how to prevent it. Thus, this research has the potential to support the further development of innovative therapies that may offer new approaches to prevent or treat people with T1D. 

Putting it all together

Curing T1D is the north star of Breakthrough T1D. These partnerships will help us work together toward our shared goal of a world without T1D—through innovation, forward-thinking cell therapy research, and the best and brightest scientists.