Background
The Bo and Kerstin Hjelt Diabetes Foundation was founded in 2008, and is based in Switzerland.

The Foundation supports research at two European universities with an excellent track record: Geneva and Malmö/Lund. The donations go, in particular, to Professor Leif Groop at the University of Lund and Professor Claes Wollheim at the University Medical Centre in Geneva, both of them are engaged in diabetes research. Professor Leif Groop is Co-ordinator for the Diabetes Centre at the University of Lund and Professor Claes Wollheim is a member of the Scientific Committee.

The financial basis of the Foundation is provided by a donation made by Bo and Kerstin Hjelt in 2008. It is planned to increase the capital through fund raising.

Initially, approx. EUR 100’000.- will be attributed annually to Geneva and Lund Universities for Fellowships: Each receive EUR 45’000, the remaining EUR 10’000 being awarded to the most successful researcher of the year.

After reception of research applications from the two universities, a Scientific Advisory Board comprising Leif Groop, Claes Wollheim and Joachim Karsegard will establish a list of candidates to whom Fellowships should be attributed.

"It is an economic contribution of great importance to us for the diabetic research at Lund University Diabetes Center (LUDC)", says Professor Leif Groop.

Development

Lund: Fellowship recipient 2009
The first recipient of the Lund University Fellowship from the Bo and Kerstin Hjelt Diabetes Foundation is Dr. Tarunweer Singh Ahluwahlia. He is a PhD from Punjab University, Chandigarh, India working on ”Genetic factors in the development of diabetic nephropathy”. He started a postdoctoral position at Lund University Diabetes Center in Malmö on March 1, 2009.

Dr. Ahluwahlia will extend his work in Malmö to apply a genomic approach to identifying genes which increase susceptibility to diabetic kidney disease. The aim is to obtain new information which can aid in the prevention and treatment of this devastating diabetic complication.

Geneva: Fellowship recipient 2009
Dr Nicole Burkhardt-Feldmann, who defended her PhD thesis on work preformed in the laboratory of Professor Claes Wollheim in January 2009 and is now doing postdoctoral work on the regulation of insulin secretion in the beta cell.

Next Step
The number of diabetic sufferers is estimated today at 200 million, a number that is expected to increase to 400 million by 2025. In 1990, 3% of the Finnish population was diabetic, but by 2006, this had risen to 6% in men and 8% in women. The increase is in part due to environmental factors and is, above all, linked to obesity. The general energy expenditure has diminished by 500 kalc/day, due to less physical activity, without a change in energy intake. For example, a 12-year old child should, ideally, exercise 90 minutes/day, but this is seldom achieved today.

Our ancestors developed genes that conferred survival benefits through enhanced energy storage. This heritage has become a burden in today’s world with its abundance of food. Predisposing genes are being defined and 80% of the common variants increasing susceptibility to type 2 diabetes have already been identified. However, these common variants only explain a small proportion of the genetic variants increasing susceptibility to type 2 diabetes. The next step will require sequencing of key genes to identify rare variants with stronger effects. The rapid development of modern molecular biology will most likely provide the necessary tools for achieving this.