Dr Prerak Trivedi awarded two-year fellowship for type 1 diabetes immunotherapy research

Dr Prerak Trivedi from SVI’s Immunology & Diabetes Unit has been named one of seven recipients of a Breakthrough T1D Early Career Basic Researcher Fellowship.

This Fellowship forms part of a $1 million investment by Breakthrough T1D in Australia’s next generation of type 1 diabetes researchers, and is designed to fast-track discoveries that could change daily life for people living with the condition.

Each recipient receives $150,000 over two years, along with dedicated mentorship, helping turn promising ideas into lasting solutions for families affected by type 1 diabetes.

Prerak’s project “Guarding beta cell transplants with novel combination immunotherapies” focuses on an important challenge in type 1 diabetes: protecting insulin-producing beta cells from immune attack after transplantation.

His research has already shown that blocking a molecule called perforin, used by immune cells like a weapon to destroy their target insulin-producing beta cells, can help shield them from immune destruction. The world’s first perforin inhibitor enables this approach to be tested.

With this fellowship, Prerak will explore whether the new perforin inhibitor and other combination immunotherapies can disarm attacking immune cells more effectively. This seeks to offer robust protection to transplanted beta cells that come from donors or from stem-cell sources.

If successful, this combination strategy could be transformative for beta cell replacement therapy, a key step toward reversing the effects of type 1 diabetes.

“With the right combination therapy, we believe we can better protect transplanted beta cells from immune attack and help bring cell-based treatments to more people living with type 1 diabetes,” Prerak says.

This research complements SVI’s broader efforts to better understand and control the immune mechanisms that drive type 1 diabetes. At the same time, it advances the development of therapies designed to preserve or restore insulin production, bringing renewed hope to the type 1 diabetes community.