Building the Foundation for Cures

The Diabetes & Immune Disease National Research Institute (DIDNRI) is a nonprofit medical research institute dedicated to fighting type 1 diabetes and other diseases through cutting-edge immunology research. Led by a group of renowned medical research scientists, the Institute is exploring the body's immune system at the cellular level and making important findings about why its malfunction causes many chronic, debilitating diseases. Regarded as one of the leading immunology research institutes in the world, DIDNRI researchers are advancing progress toward the prevention, treatment and cure of numerous illnesses, in particular autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes.

Autoimmune disease occurs when the immune system - which usually wards off invading viruses and damaged cells - instead mistakenly attacks healthy cells and tissues of the body. These diseases often involve an attack on a specific tissue, such as diabetes (pancreas), arthritis (joints), multiple sclerosis (nerves), and inflammatory bowel disease (intestines). DIDNRI brings to bear a comprehensive research effort to understand the diverse aspects of these complex diseases, and to bring about further progress towards their treatment.

DIDNRI is an academic center of excellence affiliated with the University of California San Diego School of Medicine. DIDNRI also sponsors active collaborations with researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, The Scripps Research Institute, and internationally with world-renowned institutions such as the Pasteur Institute, Paris, University College, London, and Tokyo University, Tokyo.

DIDNRI operates through a combination of funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), private industry and donor contributions. DIDNRI was recently ranked among the top five molecular biology and genetics research institutions in the world during the past decade by The Scientist.