Before damage begins.
Which changes in diabetes could set nerve injury in motion? We trace the steps from an initial exposure to physical damage and ask where prevention could make a difference.
Diabetic peripheral neuropathy
Diabetic peripheral neuropathy can affect sensation, movement, and daily life. Understanding what drives nerve injury is the starting point for our research.
When the connection
is damaged.
Peripheral nerves carry signals between the brain, spinal cord, and the rest of the body. Diabetes can damage these nerves, typically affecting the feet and legs and sometimes the hands and arms.
Symptoms can include pain, burning, tingling, or loss of sensation. Reduced feeling can make injuries harder to notice, while nerve damage can affect balance and mobility.
Sources: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
A concrete place to begin.
We follow the life of a neuron, asking what it needs to stay functional and how diabetes could disrupt that balance. Each proposed cause is broken into testable steps, from a change in local exposure or cellular activity to a measurable effect on nerve preservation.
Protect what remains.
What keeps injury progressing, and what helps a nerve withstand it? We examine the balance between damage, cellular maintenance, and the capacity to compensate.
Make recovery possible.
What would it take for damaged nerves to recover? We investigate how new nerve endings could grow, remain connected, and restore lasting function.
Working toward
lasting change.
Our research asks what would need to change, by how much, and for how long to protect a nerve. We use AI, biological data, and mechanistic models to test those requirements, compare alternative explanations, and identify the uncertainties that matter most.
Clinical progress requires evidence beyond a computer model. Promising hypotheses need experimental validation and, ultimately, appropriate clinical studies.
Explore the research approachBetter futures start
with better questions.
Join a coalition working to understand biology and build a future without neurological disease.
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