May 04, 2026
Fr1da Study Expands Early Diabetes Detection to 12 German Federal States
As part of the Fr1da study, “Early detection and early treatment of type 1 diabetes,” carried out by researchers at the Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (CRTD) and the University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus in Saxony, families can have their children aged two to ten tested for an early stage of type 1 diabetes. From May 2026, the study will expand its program by five additional federal states, bringing the total to 12: Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia will be added. Until now, the program had been available in Bavaria, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Saxony.
Type 1 diabetes often begins long before children develop symptoms. In this early phase, specific antibodies can already be detected in the blood – so-called islet autoantibodies directed against components of the insulin-producing islet cells in the pancreas. This is where Fr1da comes in: the study systematically searches the general population for early, still asymptomatic stages of type 1 diabetes and then classifies the stage of disease more precisely. In this way, Fr1da helps to detect the disease earlier, improves the understanding of the disease progression, and provides a scientific basis for more targeted prevention and intervention strategies.
Fewer Cases of Diabetic Ketoacidosis
Since 2015, pediatric practices in the participating federal states have tested more than 240,000 children as part of the Fr1da study. Researchers identified an early stage of type 1 diabetes in more than 730 children. The screening in Saxony takes place since 2021, led by researchers at the Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (CRTD) and the University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, led by Prof. Reinhard Berner and Prof. Ezio Bonifacio. Here alone, there are 196 participating pediatric practices. In the last five years, 11, 722 children were screened and 50 were identified with an early stage of type 1 diabetes.
A recent analysis shows that early diagnosis can be clinically relevant: only 2.5 percent of the children identified through Fr1da developed diabetic ketoacidosis at the onset of the disease, a dangerous metabolic complication caused by severe insulin deficiency. Without early diagnosis, this rate has been above 20 percent in Germany for years.
If Fr1da detects an early stage of type 1 diabetes in a child, the team invites the family for further examinations at a pediatric diabetes clinic. There, physicians determine which disease stage the child is in: still normal glucose metabolism, first metabolic changes, or already manifest type 1 diabetes. Based on this, they establish a prevention plan with follow-up appointments; children with manifest type 1 diabetes are then referred to standard care.
Fr1da Creates Time for Education, Prevention, and Treatment
“With Fr1da, we do not first see type 1 diabetes when children become acutely ill, but much earlier,” says Prof. Anette-Gabriele Ziegler, Director of the Institute of Diabetes Research at Helmholtz Munich and scientific lead of the Fr1da study. “This creates time for education, prevention, and, where appropriate, medical intervention, while also helping us better understand the causes and course of the disease.”
To do this, Fr1da relies on a network of pediatric practices, laboratories, and pediatric diabetes centers built up over many years. “Our experience over the past several years shows that Fr1da screening can be well integrated into the daily routine of pediatric practices and is very well accepted by families. I very much hope that we will succeed in transitioning Fr1da into selective care or even into standard care,” says Dr. Michael Hubmann, President of the Berufsverband der Kinder- und Jugendärzt:innen e.V., German Association of Paediatric and Adolescent Care Specialists (BVKJ).
One in 250 Children Develops Type 1 Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is not a rare disease: in Germany, around one in 250 children develops it. With the expansion to 12 federal states, Fr1da will now reach a large proportion of the population, as Ziegler emphasizes: “Far more children now have the opportunity to take part in Fr1da.” At the same time, this step shows that early detection is becoming increasingly important not only scientifically, but also from a health policy perspective: in the long term, access to it should not depend on where a child lives.
The Fr1da study is supported by funding from the Paul Langerhans Institute Dresden (PLID).
To support the expanded Fr1da program, the team has established a second central laboratory in Dresden alongside the central laboratory in Munich. Families and practices are also supported by three regional coordination centers in Munich, Dresden, and Hanover. Further information is available at www.fr1da.de. Questions can also be directed to the Fr1da hotline at 0800 464 88 35 or by email at
About the Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (CRTD)
The Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (CRTD) of TUD Dresden University of Technology is an academic home for scientists from more than 30 nations. Their mission is to discover the principles of cell and tissue regeneration and leverage this for the recognition, treatment, and reversal of diseases. The CRTD links the bench to the clinic, scientists to clinicians to pool expertise in stem cells, developmental biology, gene-editing, and regeneration towards innovative therapies for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, hematological diseases such as leukemia, metabolic diseases such as diabetes, bone and retina diseases. The CRTD was founded in 2006 as a research center of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and funded until 2018 as a DFG Research Center, as well as a Cluster of Excellence. Since 2019, the CRTD is funded by the TU Dresden and the Free State of Saxony.
The CRTD is one of three institutes of the central scientific facility Center for Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering (CMCB) of the TU Dresden.
http://www.tud.de/crtd
http://www.tud/de/cmcb