Facilities

Alberta Diabetes Institute called state-of-the-art

EDMONTON – At a ceremony in Edmonton, University of Alberta President Indira Samarasekera and Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach officially opened the Alberta Diabetes Institute and Health Research Innovation Facility (East), signaling the start of a new era in diabetes research.

“We are building the most advanced centre for diabetes research in the world, which will elevate the University of Alberta to a new level of recognition,” said University of Alberta President Indira Samarasekera.

“The new state-of-the-art Alberta Diabetes Institute (ADI) will continue to result in ground-breaking successes, such as our renowned Edmonton Protocol for diabetes,” she said. “There is no other place in the world that has over 200 researchers and staff focused solely on the treatment of diabetes. With this capacity for discovery, I anticipate the ADI will have a transforming and far-reaching impact upon communities near and far.”

“As diabetes reaches epidemic proportions world-wide, the opening of the Alberta Diabetes Institute on World Diabetes Day demonstrated Alberta’s commitment to investing in diabetes research at the University of Alberta, improving the quality of life for all Canadians affected by diabetes and providing hope to people across the globe,” declared Premier Ed Stelmach.

The Alberta Diabetes Institute is a multidisciplinary research facility dedicated to discovering new methods to prevent, treat and cure diabetes, and to rapidly translate those discoveries into patient care.

The Alberta Diabetes Institute is Canada’s largest free-standing diabetes research centre in terms of its size and number of staff, unique in its focus on both type 1 (insulin dependent) and type 2 (non-insulin dependent) diabetes. The Alberta Diabetes Institute will occupy two-thirds of the Health Research Innovation Facility (East), uniting a team of 35 principal investigators from five University of Alberta faculties including Agriculture, Forestry & Home Economics; Medicine & Dentistry; Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences; Physical Education & Recreation; and the School of Public Health.

“The Alberta Diabetes Institute is poised to make significant breakthroughs in diabetes research by bringing some of the best and brightest minds in the field together under one roof,” said Tom Marrie, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry. “We have a long history of excellence in diabetes research. In 1921, Professor James Collip helped Banting & Best discover insulin. Today, under the guidance of Dr. Ron Gill and Dr. Ray Rajotte, scientists from many disciplines will continue to work together to find a cure.”

For more information on the Alberta Diabetes Institute, please visit www.albertadiabetesinstitute.ca.