• Art Jahnke

    Senior Contributing Editor

    Art Janke

    Art Jahnke began his career at the Real Paper, a Boston area alternative weekly. He has worked as a writer and editor at Boston Magazine, web editorial director at CXO Media, and executive editor in Marketing & Communications at Boston University, where his work was honored with many awards. Profile

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There are 13 comments on ENG Prof’s Bionic Pancreas Takes a Big Step Forward

  1. I have following this line of research for the past 20 years. Since beta cell transplantation seems to have hit several hurdles, this technology seems to have filled the gap for type I diabetes until other breakthroughs occur. Kudos for the superlative teamwork.

  2. As a Type I diabetic diagnosed as an adult, and a brittle one at that, I am so excited about Ed’s work! I look forward to his outcomes.

  3. Thank you Dr. Damiano & BU for backing the continuing struggle to tame Type I Diabetes.

    Fifty years ago when I was diagnosed with “juvenile” diabetes, blood glucose testing at home was a pipe dream. Several times a day I dropped reagent tabs into test tube samples of urine without a clear understanding of how to apply the results. As a young teen, all I knew was that BLUE was GOOD and ORANGE was BAD.
    Flashing ahead to 2014, the world of diabetes care has changed dramatically. Yet even with an insulin pump, CGM & an A1C of 6.8, there’s still room for improvement. Hopefully, your “bionic” pancreas will be the answer.

  4. I’ve been Type I diabetic for going on 18yrs, and seen some development in technology in that time. Going from a clunky finger prick and syringe/vial regimen, to a CGM and wireless pump has improved my health- but not necessarily simplified things to be completely streamline.
    Thank you for taking this project on as an attainable goal. It takes visionaries with personal motivations to jump the hurdles of combining design, engineering, manufacturing, and government approval to get this out to the people. I feel like a lot of the stagnation in developing this technology is due to investors’ lack of desire to collaborate with so many players, and risk losing money in the front end of lengthy trial periods. The effort to do so should be, and now is, academic bases on the number of lives that will be improved with the outcome.
    Again, thanks for pushing passed the hard part. Further technologies will surly follow improving upon the groundwork you’ve all provided, and set a precedent from which the med device industry may build.
    ~AL
    Boston, MA

  5. It brings tears to my eyes knowing that a parent like me who has a young adult going away to college realizes the risk this student is taking leaving the environment where safeguards are set up to ensure that the person makes it through the night. My daughter wants to become a doctor. She is a high risk type 1 diabetic. She is looking at BU for it’s medical program. It would be wonderful if she could meet with these doctors and researchers.

  6. Wow! I saw the camp vid that you put together, just today.

    I’m very excited. 18yrs ago I was told a “cure” would be 10yrs away. LOL, no Dr Pediatrician.

    With the hormones activating in a young persons body and having BSL’s in the 7’s and 8’s, you guys are doing an absolutely fantastic job. I am so proud of what you are achieving and how you are willing to follow up on your convictions. Well bloody done.

    It fills me with hope, that in the event my young daughters ever develop T1D, that there are people like you forging ahead and giving it a decent go. My ultimate fear is that my girls develop T1D, knowing that I am the one who gave it to them.

    Thank you for doing what you do.

    Brad Friedrich

  7. I would like to be a part of a study if that is possible. I live in Canada and struggle with my glucose levels constantly. If anyone knows who to contact for to apply for this please post.

  8. I am 44 years old and have been a type 1 diabetic since I was two years old. I am also Australian and pray that eventually we can have this technology here. It would be life changing for lots of us. I was also told when I was 10 that there would be a cure within 10 years.

  9. I have just learned of the bionic pancreas and think it could be a significant improvement. I have been a type 1 for 31 years being diagnosed at age 40. I can no longer detect low blood glucose so I started CCM which I have found isn’t consistently accurate. Even Medtronic cautions not to react to the sensor but check blood glucose with a meter. The bionic pancreas relies on CCM for calculating the amount of insulin or glucagon to provide. How does the bionic pancreas technology overcome this aspect?I will appreciate any information you can provide. Thank you

    1. @James Popp, I have the same questions regarding the CGM’s accuracy. I have been using Medtronic’s CGM for several years now, and while it’s definitely better to have than not, I too find that its readings are somewhat hit-or-miss. Surely not up to the task of being used in a closed-loop system.

      My endocrinologist told me about the artificial pancreas several months ago (she learned of it at this year’s ADA conference), and she told me that the researchers are using a different brand of CGM, not Medtronic’s – Dexcom I think? I can only imagine that this device is of much higher accuracy and more reliable. (I assume I wasn’t told of this option when getting my Medtronic one because it’s apparently a stand-alone unit and doesn’t interface with any pump.)

      If anyone else has more info on this, it’d be much appreciated…

  10. I would love for my daughter to be able to get this Bionic Pancreas. She has been T1D since she is 3 and now she is almost 13. Can’t wait. Yippieeeeee

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