JDRF Australia and funding partner The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust have announced a combined additional $12 million towards the continuation of the Environmental Determinants of Islet Autoimmunity (ENDIA) study.

The ENDIA study, led by Professor Jennifer Couper from the University of Adelaide, the Robinson Research Institute and the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, is the world’s first and largest study to identify how genetics and the environment interact from pregnancy through early childhood to drive or protect against the development of type 1 diabetes, a life-long autoimmune condition that destroys the body’s cells that make insulin.

The $12 million investment builds on eight years of partnership, with a total commitment to date of $40 million to ENDIA: $13 million from the Type 1 Diabetes Clinical Research Network (T1DCRN), and $27 million from Helmsley. 

The study has provided immediate benefits to 21 children who have been diagnosed early with type 1 diabetes through the study, as well as a further 189 children who have been identified to be at heightened risk.