Not everybody responds to medicines in the same way. For instance, some common type 2 diabetes medications have serious side effects for some people while they just aren’t effective in others.

That’s why the University of Melbourne’s Professor Matthew Watt and his team are currently studying a protein called SMOC1 to see if it could play a role in treating type 2 diabetes.

“SMOC1 is a protein found in the liver. Our team have already found that the protein responds to both glucose and insulin, which suggests that it could play a role in regulating glucose levels,” Professor Watt said.

“With the support of a grant from Diabetes Australia we are studying SMOC1 to see if it can help regulate glucose levels in mice with pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes.

“If this is successful it could lead to the development of new drugs that could help people with type 2 diabetes.”

Professor Watt’s research is supported by Diabetes Australia through the Diabetes Australia Research Trust. Find out how you can help support research projects like this here.