Amongst the winners is:
Health Sciences - Dr Claire Williams
The natural history of the autoimmune response to zinc transporter 8 (ZnT8) in type 1 diabetes
In the UK alone, 400,000 people live with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D). Dr Claire Williams studied one of the lesser-known early signs of the disease, the body's immune response to zinc transporter 8 (ZnT8). She developed ways to understand which immune cells recognise ZnT8 and how (and how strongly) they bind to it. She also developed a cheaper and better way of detecting those cells.
“Our hope is that in the future we can identify individuals at-risk of T1D in the general population to prevent individuals presenting with T1D in hospital with the life-threatening condition of diabetic ketoacidosis,” said Dr Williams
Dr Williams received a full studentship from Diabetes UK. Another grant from the charity is allowing her to expand her work as a Post-doctoral Research Associate at Bristol.
Her supervisors were Dr Anna Long, Professor Kathleen Gillespie and Dr Alistair Williams.
Dr Alistair Williams sadly passed away in September 2020 and Dr Claire Williams dedicated her thesis to him, calling him “a tremendous mentor, friend and colleague”. She also praised Dr Williams’ 30 year contribution to the Type 1 Diabetes field and the career help he gave her. Please read about Dr Williams’ life here.