Dr. Paul J. Thornalley's Group at QBRI works primarily on mechanisms of the development of vascular complications of diabetes (nephropathy, retinopathy, peripheral neuropathy and increased risk of cardiovascular disease) – particularly the contribution of increased methylglyoxal or ‘dicarbonyl stress’ to the underlying cell and tissue dysfunction.

In clinical translation, Dr. Thornally's research focuses on:

(i) Biomarkers for assessing risk of development of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes and progression of vascular complications of diabetes.

(ii) Development of novel therapeutic agents for treatment – for example, glyoxalase 1 inducers. Other research focuses on the mechanism of methylglyoxal-induced tumour cell death, its role in cancer chemotherapy and link to Glo1 overexpression-linked multidrug resistance.