Army renews ICB funding

Army renews bio-inspired engineering and science research center at UC Santa Barbara with $48 million. Read more 

Professor Roger W.H Sargent Lecture

Francis J. Doyle III has been invited to deliver the twentieth annual Professor Roger W.H Sargent lecture, a lectureship series developed as a tribute to Roger Sargent’s excellence and his legacy in the field of Process Systems Engineering.
Thursday 5 December 2013 • 17.30
Lecture Theatre 1 (Room 250), Department of Chemical Engineering, ACE Extension Building,
South Kensington Campus, Imperial College London SW7 2AZ
For more details, see the attached flier.

Developing diagnostic tools for PTSD

A recent press release highlights our groups work in finding biomarkers of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in order to improve diagnosis and therapy:

http://dev.news.ucsb.edu/2013/013683/serving-those-who-have-served

VIP

VIP Treatment for Jet Lag

A number of news articles were recently published on the results of collaborative work concerning synchrony of mammalian circadian rhythms:

Cutting Edge Biomedical Research in Your Own Backyard

This talk discusses the Artificial Pancreas System, focusing on the technical aspects of the system and the clinical research to date. It includes information on the challenges that such a complex system presents; the adaptive, non-linear control algorithm used to address these challenges and what the system can do to revolutionize diabetes care for patients with insulin-dependent diabetes.

Ultra-Rapid-Acting Inhaled Insulin Trial Funded By JDRF

JDRF, Sansum Diabetes Research Institute, and the College of Engineering at University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) are pleased to announce the first successful clinical research trial using the artificial pancreas in conjunction with ultra-rapid-acting inhaled insulin.
This represents a groundbreaking potential advancement in the treatment of type 1 diabetes (T1D). It establishes that the disease can be managed through a unified automated process that delivers precise amounts of insulin around the clock, based on real-time glucose measurements without the need for patient intervention, and is further enhanced and fine-tuned by the swift delivery of ultra-rapid-acting inhaled insulin during mealtimes. The artificial pancreas and inhaled insulin system work together to replicate the normal, healthy function of the human pancreas. Sansum Diabetes is the only site testing ultra-rapid-acting inhaled insulin in combination with the artificial pancreas. Read more …

Congratulations to Dr. Rebecca Harvey

Congratulations to Rebecca Harvey, who successfully defended her PhD thesis!

UCSB Researchers Perform Pioneering Research on Type 2 Diabetes

A press release covering our new article in Plos One: Read More

Original Article:

Luni C, Marth JD, Doyle FJ III (2012) Computational Modeling of Glucose Transport in Pancreatic β-Cells Identifies Metabolic Thresholds and Therapeutic Targets in Diabetes. PLoS ONE 7(12): e53130. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0053130

Glucose Monitoring through Meal Detection

A study looked at using continuous glucose monitoring to detect a meal. Eyal Dassau, PHD, of the University of California, Santa Barbara, said the ability to use a meal detection algorithm has safety and quality-of-life implications, particularly in children and adolescents, which is why the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation provided financial support for the study.

Adolescents often forget to bolus before eating, which results in very high blood glucose levels a couple of hours after a meal, which is something we’d like to avoid,” Dr. Dassau said.

The study he presented looked at whether glucose rate-of-change data from a continuous glucose monitor could detect a meal. Dr. Dassau said the results indicated that the use of meal detection algorithm will trigger a model for predictive control of insulin dosing during a meal before there has been a major elevation in blood glucose levels. More…