The German Diabetes Center (DDZ) - Leibniz Center for Diabetes Research at Heinrich Heine University (HHU) - is a research institution based in Dusseldorf. In 1964, it was founded due to the initiative of Prof. Dr. med. Karl Oberdisse as an Association for the Promotion of Research on Diabetes mellitus (Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Erforschung der Zuckerkrankheit e.V.). The DDZ performs research on diabetes mellitus in a transdisciplinary approach. The aim is the prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment of diabetes and its sequelae. The work focuses on application-oriented research in the fields of clinical diabetology, clinical biochemistry and pathobiochemistry, biometrics and epidemiology, vascular and islet cell biology as well as health services research and health economics. The investigation of risk genes, mechanisms, individual lifestyles in combination with environmental influences and their long-term effects on the population and their supply play a decisive role. DDZ has also performed clinical studies and established several cohorts, such as the German Diabetes Study (GDS), which examines the course of diabetes as well as its sequelae.