Now Funding · Preclinical Research at UTMB
The first step toward a future where kids don’t grow up with diabetes.
Before any new therapy can reach a single person, it has to be proven in the lab. We are funding that first step: a preclinical mouse study at the University of Texas Medical Branch, designed to test whether the body’s own insulin-producing tissue can be coaxed back to work — and to build the evidence required to justify a future human trial.
Most diabetes research manages the disease. We’re funding a study that asks whether it can be addressed at the source.
Nearly every approved therapy — insulin, pumps, oral drugs — works downstream of the organ that has stopped doing its job. This study asks a different question.
Can non-invasive, focused acoustic energy stimulate insulin-producing tissue in a diabetic mouse model to regenerate and resume function?
That is the entire study, stated plainly. It is a yes-or-no scientific question, asked in mice, and answered with data that will be shared with the scientific community regardless of the outcome. The study is led by Rinat O. Esenaliev, Ph.D., Professor of Biomedical Engineering at UTMB, under a Sponsored Research Agreement with the university.
A human trial is the destination. This is the bridge that makes it possible.
No responsible human study begins without preclinical evidence first. That is not a delay — it is the path. Animal-model efficacy and safety data are the foundation regulators, institutions, and physicians require before a single person can be enrolled. Funding this step is how the human study eventually gets built.
Preclinical mouse study
Test the core question in a diabetic mouse model at UTMB and measure whether insulin-producing tissue responds. Publish the result either way.
We are hereLarger-animal & safety work
If the mouse data support it, expand into the additional preclinical and safety studies needed to design a credible human protocol.
Human clinical trials
With evidence in hand, pursue the regulatory and institutional approvals required to study the approach in people — the goal every dollar is ultimately working toward.
Real science, moving forward — because people decided to help.
- ✓ A preclinical efficacy study in mice at UTMB Galveston, a major academic medical center.
- ✓ A test of a fundamental question: can the body’s own insulin-producing tissue be coaxed back to work?
- ✓ The foundational evidence step that a future human trial would be built upon.
- ✓ Results shared openly with the scientific community to move the whole field forward.
Every gift funds a real piece of the study.
Each level below maps to an actual line in the research budget at UTMB.
Bench supplies and consumables — the reagents and materials a round of laboratory work runs through.
Give $50Histology and immunohistochemistry to measure whether insulin-producing cells regenerated — the heart of the study’s primary question.
Give $250Blood-chemistry, glucose-tolerance, and insulin/C-peptide assays for an entire experimental group in the study.
Give $1,000Direct support for protocol development and study operations at UTMB. Recognition optional.
Join the CircleThe Faustman Lab & the BCG vaccine.
Beyond the study we fund at UTMB, we help our community understand other research aimed at the root of Type 1 diabetes — including the Faustman Laboratory’s work at Massachusetts General Hospital using the BCG vaccine, a vaccine with one of the longest safety records in medicine, to study whether the autoimmune process driving Type 1 diabetes can be calmed.
We share their published findings, point donors toward research that targets the disease itself, and help patients understand what the science does — and does not yet — show.
An important distinction
FYI Diabetes does not fund the Faustman Lab, and gifts made here do not go to that program. They are an independent research effort with their own funding. We point to their work because it shares our conviction: that diabetes is worth solving, not only managing.
BCG is FDA-approved for tuberculosis and for certain bladder cancers. Its use in diabetes is investigational and not an approved therapy. Descriptions here reflect published research, not outcomes you should expect.
For a lot of families, “manage it forever” was never an acceptable answer.
If you’ve watched a child, a parent, or yourself live with this disease, you already know what’s at stake. Funding the first rigorous step is how the harder question — can we end it? — eventually gets a real chance to be asked in people.
Make Your GiftAbout this research
The study described on this page is preclinical scientific research conducted in an animal (mouse) model at the University of Texas Medical Branch and does not involve human subjects. It is not a clinical trial, not a medical treatment, and not available to patients. Statements about the goals of the research describe questions the study seeks to answer; they are not claims that any therapy is safe, effective, or proven. Preclinical results may not translate to humans, and no specific outcome is promised or guaranteed.
About your contribution
Donations are directed to FYI Diabetes’ charitable research program. FYI Diabetes, Inc. is recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public charity; contributions are deductible to the extent permitted by law, and no goods or services are provided in exchange for a gift. A copy of our IRS determination letter and current financial information are available on request. Please consult your tax advisor regarding deductibility.