I had the pleasure of meeting Scott Scolnick at the Diabetes UnConference about a month ago. He’s one of the Senior Research Scientist at Boston University. He’s part of the Bionic Pancreas research team.
This article made TIME Magazine.
The invention could seriously change the management of type-1 diabetes
The race is on for what may be the biggest innovation in decades for Type 1 diabetes management—the bionic pancreas—and on Friday, one of the lead researchers in the field announced at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting that he’s launched a company to bring that invention to market.
Thanks for posting about this Time article, @curlysarah. It’s always good to read what is out there in the popular press so when relatives and friends raise the issue, I’ll know what they’re talking about.
As you know I am a serious sugar surfer, as Dr. Ponder writes about it. I think that my BG control is better than what the first generation or two of the artificial pancreas can deliver. What crossed my mind when reading the referenced article is this: What if I use the iLet when it comes out and simply layer on my surfing moves on top of it? I won’t be happy with a 120 mg/dl average if I can already surf below a 105 mg/dl average.
I wonder how well the algorithm would adapt to adding an external treatment plan.
@Terry4, that’s an interesting perspective and one that I haven’t though of. I wonder if there will be a way to enter in your own personal target blood sugar. That might help us surfers out there.
i want to be excited about the bionic pancreas, but fear i will never have one here in spain, with socialized medicine. my heart broke when ed damiano said he doesnt expect a cure in 5 or ten years.
Even without any explicit provision for user input into the bionic pancreas system, you can always add insulin via a syringe and I would think temp basal to 0% would be another user selection. You could also understate your expected meal by announcing to the pump that you’ll be eating a small meal when you intend to consume an average size meal or the other way around. I imagine these early systems will still have plenty of user steering allowed.
