The study, which received funding from the MRC and was an international collaboration with King’s College London, University of Oxford, MRC Harwell, University of California in Los Angeles, University of Pennsylvania and others, examined the effect of a gene called KLF14. The researchers found that genetic variations that control KLF14 were associated with where in the body excess fat was stored. In women, versions of the gene that result in fat being stored around the hips, rather than the abdomen, were linked to a lower risk of diabetes.