ENDIA

Australia's largest study into the cause of type 1 diabetes. Recruitment to the study is now complete. Find out more at www.endia.org.au and Harry B.

Recruitment to the ENDIA Study has closed. The ENDIA (Environmental Determinants of Islet Autoimmunity) study is looking into what contributes to the development of Type 1 Diabetes in early childhood. Type 1 Diabetes in children is twice as common as it was 20 years ago. This is because our environment has changed and at-risk children are more likely to develop Type 1 Diabetes. If we can understand exactly what in the environment is harmful or protective, we can develop strategies to prevent Type 1 Diabetes. We believe that children are exposed to these environmental triggers very early in life, perhaps even before they are born. Accordingly, the ENDIA study has recruited 1511 participants across Australia from the pregnancy or up to 6 months of age that have a first-degree relative (i.e. baby's Mum, Dad or older sibling) with Type 1 Diabetes. ENDIA is an observational investigation and does not involve any study medications or treatments. Further information is available on the ENDIA website at www.endia.org.au. This research has been supported by JDRF Australia, JDRF-I, Australian Research Council Special Research Initiative in Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes and the Leona M. Helmsley Charitable Trust. Please note, comments and opinions made by others are not necessarily endorsed by the ENDIA Study Team. All content posted by the ENDIA Team has had ethical approval for public view. Thanks for your interest in finding the causes of Type 1 Diabetes!

19/12/2025

Nothing says in tropical Queensland like a Christmas turtle!

Enjoy this bright, colourful and festive drawing from Mike (from ).

Wishing all our ENDIA friends and families a wonderful time together over the school holidays.

May this Christmas turtle bring you festive joy.

Thanks so much Mike; it's a cracking drawing!

16/12/2025

Six year old Keira from Victoria wishes all her ENDIA friends a “Happy Christmas”.

We love your drawing, Keira and hope you, and all our ENDIANs, have a fabulous time with your friends and family over the festive season.

💙

13/12/2025

Merry Christmas Research Superheroes!

From one research superhero, Charlie, to all the other research superheroes of ENDIA.

Couldn’t have said it better ourselves, Charlie.

Thanks for your fantastic drawing, legend.

10/12/2025

Festive wishes from Patience, a clever ENDIAN from WA, and her cute elf “Merry”.

The detail in this drawing is amazing. Santa has worked very hard delivering all the presents around the world. Here he is at his final delivery home. And thanks to his helper the elf, Merry, their “work here is done”.

Don’t forget to have your well earned snack and drink, !

And to all our ENDIA friends and families, a merry Christmas with thanks to Patience from the ENDIA Study!

07/12/2025

How creative and so fun. Big thanks to mum, Bec, and her ENDIAN, Dean, for coming up with this ENDIAN Elf on the Shelf.

With help from his , and , elf is powering through a festive ENDIA visit.

Love your work, Bec! Thanks for taking the time to design this and send it in so we can share your talents and the smiles.

04/12/2025

🏆 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded for groundbreaking discoveries around how our immune system works – and this connects directly to the important research happening in the ENDIA Study!

What Did the Nobel Prize Winners Discover?
Scientists Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi discovered special "security guard" cells in our immune system called regulatory T cells ( ). These cells are crucial because they prevent our immune system from attacking our own body – which is exactly what happens in autoimmune conditions like .

How Does This Relate to ENDIA?
The ENDIA Study is investigating why some children develop while others don't. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition where the immune system mistakenly attacks the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas ( ).
Understanding how regulatory T cells work – and why they sometimes fail to protect these beta cells – is a key piece of the puzzle ENDIA researchers are working to solve!

Why This Matters for Your Family:
✨ The Nobel Prize research has opened up new possibilities for treatments that could help regulate the immune system
✨ ENDIA's comprehensive approach – tracking babies from pregnancy through childhood – is helping us understand when and how the immune system changes in children who develop the early markers ( ) for type 1 diabetes
✨ By participating in ENDIA, your family is contributing to research that could one day lead to prevention strategies for type 1 diabetes

The Path Forward:
This Nobel Prize recognition highlights how important immune system research is for conditions like type 1 diabetes. The discoveries being made through ENDIA – Australia's world-first pregnancy-to-childhood study – are building on this foundational knowledge to find ways to prevent type 1 diabetes before it develops.

Thank you to all our ENDIA families for being part of this crucial research journey! 💙

💙

01/12/2025

Once again we had some fantastic entries for this year’s Christmas card drawing competition.

Thanks to everyone who sent in their amazing pictures. You’ll see all entries posted leading up to .

All pictures were amazing. And there will be a special mention to someone who was extra clever to make the most creative ENDIA image yet!

However, the difficult but unanimous decision made was that Maggie’s drawing was bright, cheerful and made a wonderful Christmas card for our families this year. The fact that Maggie was only 5 years old when she drew this is incredible!

Congratulations to Maggie from regional NSW who participates in ENDIA through the regional program. An extra box of Lego is coming your way! Just in time for Christmas. Thanks to for helping us acknowledge your contribution to

Big thanks again to everyone who sent in their amazing pictures for us all to enjoy.

28/11/2025

Hasta la vista Heath!

This champ has been an ENDIAN for 10 years. And now it is time to hang up his ENDIA bag and complete his time in the study.

We have really appreciated every visit, every blood test and every p**p to bring us closer to answering the question ?

We recommend all our ENDIA graduates continue screening much less frequently or intensively through Type1Screen. Have a read for more information and to register at www.type1screen.org

25/11/2025

A message from one of our ENDIA mums:

“It was wonderful to be part of the ENDIA ultrasound study in Adelaide, helping to provide new information about Type 1 Diabetes development so it can be prevented in the future. The nurses, Alison and Ben, were absolutely fantastic, and we had such a great experience during my son’s ultrasound and other screening tests. Looking forward to seeing everyone again next year for our 3rd and final visit! 💙

22/11/2025

Our new published research looked at data from 818 ENDIA mums whose have been monitored for (early markers of and ). We found that when their children had these autoantibodies detected by age 4, mothers' stress levels 1-2 years later were similar to those whose children did not show these antibodies.

Key takeaways:
✅ Autoantibody detection in children didn't significantly increase ongoing maternal stress
✅ This held true even for mothers who themselves had
✅ Consistent support and education throughout the study potentially played an important role.

The research did identify that mothers with a history of mental health conditions reported higher stress levels - but this was independent of their child's autoantibody status, highlighting the importance of mental health support for all parents navigating health monitoring in early childhood.

Reassuringly, our findings suggest support systems and education may help parents manage the emotional challenges of autoantibody screening without experiencing sustained increases in stress.

You can access the paper published in online at: https://rdcu.be/eO4jo

Does this sound right to you? We’d be interested in your feedback.

19/11/2025

As Thin Lizzy sang “The boys are back in town.” 🎸 But brothers, Lawrence and Gregory aren’t visiting Adelaide to rock and roll, they're here for science! 🔬

These two legends are participating in the ENDIA ultrasound study of the pancreas, and our research team couldn't be more excited. From pancreatic imaging, continuous glucose monitoring ( ) to sibling bonding, it's all happening right here.

📍 Location: Women's and Children's Health Network
🎯 Mission: Advance our understanding of pancreatic size and function in the context of development
🤝 Team: Two brothers (and mum, Gracie) with one important cause ?
Here's to family, science, and making a difference! 💙

16/11/2025

Congratulations to Drs Megan Penno and Mia Majstorovic for their featured presentations at this year’s Robinson Research Institute symposium.

Megan was invited to present around ENDIA’s ongoing quest to engage and involve consumers in the ENDIA Study and future research resulting from the ENDIA cohort data and samples. As well as her account of the amazing journey from 2012 when ENDIA began to some 13 years later, her montage of photos from ENDIA families contributing to ENDIA was a visual highlight.

And speaking of ENDIA’s quest to find , post-doctoral researcher, Mia, won the best Early Career Researcher presentation about the findings from health professionals interviewed for the QuEST Study (Qualitative Experiences of Screening and monitoring for Type 1 diabetes). Well done Mia!

Mia is still seeking more participants. If your child is aged 9 to 18 years old and one or more have been detected through screening and monitoring for (even if gone away), consider participating in a short online interview with Mia for the QuEST Study.

For more information or to register for a no obligation chat, go to https://adelaideuniwide.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_ai1gunhvweaEHjg or email Mia directly at Mia.majstorovic@adelaide.edu.au.

Robinson Research Institute

Address

Women's And Children's Hospital
Adelaide, SA
5006

Website

http://www.endia.org.au/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when ENDIA posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to ENDIA:

Shortcuts

Want your practice to be the top-listed Clinic in Adelaide?