Do you have a great idea for Type 1 diabetes research? Check out this contest from InnoCentive, which is offering a cash prize of between $2,500 and $5,000 for the best ideas for future projects. The details: This Challenge is asking InnoCentive Solvers to formulate well-defined problems or hypotheses aimed at advancing our knowledge about...

As of Saturday, March 6, at 10:40 AM, I am one step closer to having my robot pancreas. I have, through a combination of landing the best endocrinologist in the Kaiser system and being a persistently squeaky wheel, gotten my Medtronic Minimed Continuous Glucose Monitoring System. I am phenomenally excited about this development, and not...

Here’s something I don’t like: the idea that a piece of technology I rely on to keep me alive could somehow kill me. I’m speaking not of Toyotas, but of insulin pumps — according to this piece in the Wall Street Journal, “the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it has seen an increasing number of...

Yesterday I had the chance to participate in a focus group for a computer program for a CGM. I love focus groups like this — you get a glimpse of upcoming diabetes products, you have a chance to provide feedback to improve it, and at the end of the hour, they hand you an envelope with $100. It’s a pretty great way to spend...

I was reading the other day about the amount of Federal Stimulus grant money still remaining. Given the large amount of money allocated in the past year for grants, it is not entirely surprising that a large amount remains up for grabs for enterprising grant applicants. The most interesting segment to me is the money still available via...

It came! My pump arrived, pretty in pink, and, yes, it was like Christmas. I transferred all my settings over, and I am now plugged in and running with the new Medtronic Minimed 522 Insulin Pump. As expected, the biggest difference between this pump and my old 515 is the color. The user interface, shape, buttons, and operations are all...

I just had a feature published in Popular Science that I think might be of interest to others with Type 1. As I’ve mentioned previously on this blog, right after being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes 9 years ago, I enrolled in a trial for a new drug called an anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody (best known as teplizumab and being studied...

A Story of Adventure and Love in the Endocrine System Since 2005, I have been the appreciative owner of a Kaiser-subsidized Medtronic Minimed insulin pump, model 515. It has been good to me; it has accompanied me through sleet and through snow. We have flown together, tanned together, climbed together. We’ve never showered together,...

This morning I was feeling inspired by the interview I did with JDRF’s Aaron Kowalski about the Artificial Pancreas Project,  so I did a little google searching about artificial pancreases.  I was looking for recent news, but instead I came across this article from the New York Times, published on December 7, 1999 — just...

Today’s a big day for anyone with Type 1 diabetes: JDRF just announced a partnership with the Animas Corporation to develop what they’re calling a “First-Generation Automated System for Managing Type 1 Diabetes.” Translation? They’re trying to make the first-ever artificial pancreas. Very, very exciting....