(From left) Marc Breton, MD, and Mark DeBoer, MD
Automated insulin delivery has quickly become the gold standard for clinical care in type 1 diabetes (T1D) and UVA has long been at the forefront of this technological revolution. In a new project backed by a $2.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, co-principal investigators Marc Breton, MD, a professor and associate director for research at the UVA Center for Diabetes Technology, and Mark DeBoer, MD, a pediatric endocrinologist and professor of pediatrics, propose to deploy and test technological innovations to enable safe physical activity among people with T1D.
When integrated into UVA’s new automated insulin delivery system, these exercise specific modules will allow the pump to promptly react to activity, but also anticipate people’s habits and improve their glucose control during and after being active.
The approaches will separately adjust insulin delivery in response to 1) real-time changes in insulin sensitivity, 2) the amount of “activity-on-board,” which acknowledges the influence of prior activity on future insulin needs, and 3) anticipated future physical activity based on past physical activity patterns. All of these will be developed and tested as added modules in a fully-automated closed loop, a new generation of AID that requires no announcement by the user, compared to the current generation where people are asked to quantify their meals and announce any significant activity.
The project will consist in intertwined phase of engineering development and clinical trials, culminating in the demonstration of this new medical device in several weeks of use by study participants at home.
Learn more about UVA Center for Diabetes research and technological advancements for the treatment of type 1 diabetes.
Filed Under: Research