The University of Western Australia (UWA) has announced a research breakthrough that could lead to a revolution in testing for type diabetes around the world.

The research, led by UWA’s Professor Grant Morahan, has been published in the prestigious Diabetes journal.

Lead author Research Assistant Professor Cao Nguyen, said the new method would make testing much cheaper and quicker to determine what genetic risk factors have for Type 1 diabetes.

The strongest genetic risk factors for Type 1 diabetes are the HLA genes known as HLA-DR3 and HLA-DR4.

"Currently a blood sample is collected and sent to specialist laboratories where it can cost $300 per sample to test HLA types by the conventional method," Research Assistant Professor Nguyen said.

"With this new method, it will cost less than $50 to find a person's HLA risk type. The process will be more affordable and will make it easier for more researchers to investigate type 1 diabetes."

Asst. Professor Nguyen tested more than 200,000 genetic markers in the DNA of over 10,000 people as part of the international Type 1 Diabetes Genetics Consortium.