He subsequently returned to the UK and now oversees a research group at King’s College London in the Department of Immunobiology. The main focus of the research is the role of T lymphocytes in the aetiology of the autoimmune disease, Type 1 diabetes. In particular, the group has defined the critical targets for T cells that appear to have a role in the destruction of insulin-producing cells, and key immunological pathways through which this damage is mediated. More recently, the work has led to the definition of targets enabling the design of a novel approach to therapy. This strategy, termed “peptide immunotherapy” is the first of its kind in diabetes and further phases of this programme are ongoing. In the future, a better understanding of the role of the immune response in Type 1 diabetes will promote the further development of these novel therapeutics into the clinical setting. In addition, Mark has taken a role in designing and implementing mechanistic studies in the context of clinical trials of novel immunotherapies in type 1 diabetes.