UMass Chan researcher developing skin treatment, with potential broader applications to prevent diabetes
New England Council member UMass Chan Medical School’s Department of Dermatology Chair, Dr. John Harris, has founded a new vitiligo pharmaceutical company. The company will soon launch a 1,000-person vitiligo study to examine the connection to and potential for prevention of type 1 diabetes.
According to the CDC, new incidences of type 1 diabetes increased by 1.9% between 2002 and 2015 and accounted for 5-10% of all diabetes cases. The total number of cases rose 30% from 1.25 million people in 2017 to 1.6 million in 2020.
Though the reason behind the rise in cases or disparities of cases between different demographics is largely unknown, Dr. Harris says, “There’s a lot of overlap where genes that cause type 1 diabetes are the same genes that cause vitiligo and a number of other autoimmune diseases.” Harris is currently working to discover prevention for vitiligo, and he believes that his study, funded by a $4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, could also result in simultaneously identifying the biomarkers that could help prevent type 1 diabetes.
The New England Council would like to commend UMass Chan and Dr. John Harris for this innovative research.
Read for more from Worcester Business Journal.