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A diagnosis of type 1 diabetes (T1D) changes the trajectory of an entire family. This was no different for the Turner Family when Alex was diagnosed at 14-years-old.

The Turners are a close-knit family, parents Richard and Alison, and children Alex, Sara and Emma approached Alex’s diagnosis together as a family.

“At 14 years old, it was so traumatic and hard. For my parents, and of course for Alex. It really rocked our entire family. We were all affected,” says Sara. “And JDRF has been a part of our lives since then”.

Today, Alex works at RBC, and his wife Camryn works in Management Consulting. Richard, Alison, Sara, and Emma all have careers in the real estate sector. They have all been active volunteers with JDRF, particularly helping with events like the Sun Life Ride to Defeat Diabetes, and chairing the 2019 Gala in Toronto, Ontario.

It has been 15 years since Alex’s diagnosis. He played competitive golf as a teen and throughout university. While managing his diabetes, he struggled in ways other kids didn’t.  

“The CGM (continuous glucose monitoring) and other diabetes devices helps him monitor his insulin and blood glucose levels and puts him more on a level playing field. A lot of people still don’t have access to them.  Today these devices are more widely available, but they are still incredibly costly, and not everyone has the luxury to pay for them.” says Sara. “I can’t even imagine as a parent, experiencing the stress and anxiety that comes with having a child with type 1 diabetes. With a CGM, they can at least monitor their numbers while they’re at school or sleeping and take away some of the worry. But the truth is, you are always worried, and you will be forever until there’s a cure” says Sara.

It is for that reason The Turner Family have reaffirmed their commitment to JDRF through a total donation of $200,000 to support the most promising research both into a cure for type 1 diabetes, and into devices and therapies that can improve the lives of others living with the disease today.

“As a family we chatted about how we wanted to be remembered and decided it would be through a joint family donation to JDRF,” says Sara.

The Turner Family will be matching donations throughout December up to $100,000 until the end of the year.

Alex wants people to better understand what it really means to live with T1D:

“I need to think about every single piece of food I put in my mouth, or what activity I am going to do that day otherwise there could be severe repercussions. It all must be planned out. When I travel, even if it is just two hours out of the city, I must make sure that I’ve packed enough insulin and diabetes supplies.” says Alex. “What people need to know is that I do this every day – because it is what is keeping me alive.”

Something the family often thinks about is that Richard’s great-uncle passed away at 13 years old in 1900, from diabetes.

“Had he been born 30 years later; he would have lived. It was just 21 years later that insulin was discovered. Instead, he did not even make it to the age that Alex was diagnosed. It’s sobering. This is why we want to push funding for more research, like CGMs, other devices and ultimately a cure. Because you don’t know what the next discovery will be” says Sara.

JDRF is so grateful to the Turner Family for their incredible generosity. Their support will allow JDRF to continue funding the research that will get us closer to a world free from type 1 diabetes.

December 2021 marked the launch of the JDRF Centre of Excellence at the University of British Columbia (UBC). One year later, a team of over 40 researchers convened in person at UBC for the first annual meeting to review and celebrate progress, translate knowledge, engage with the type 1 diabetes (T1D) community, and discuss what the future holds for this exciting research initiative. 

On November 3^rd, 2022, researchers, clinicians, trainees, members of the T1D community, and JDRF staff assembled for the JDRF Centre of Excellence’s first annual meeting at The Nest on UBC campus. The full-day event included a review of year 1 scientific progress across the Centres research projects and cores, knowledge translation presentations led by trainee researchers from the Centre, engagement sessions involving researchers and the T1D community, and discussions about the future plans of the Centre’s research program.  

 “The annual meeting was an inspiring day where Centre researchers shared progress from our first year of operation, and patient partners shared their stories of living with T1D,” said Bruce Verchere, one of the project leads at the Centre. “We concluded the meeting energized and with new ideas to carry on the Centre’s important work in Year 2!” 

The Centre’s research program, which is exclusively focused on T1D cure research, has seen important progress across all of its three main themes. In Theme 1, led by Dr. Francis Lynn and focused on building better beta cells for islet replacement therapy, the research team identified improved systems and growth conditions for scaling up the manufacture of stem cell-derived beta-like cells in the lab. They also carried out crucial groundwork to enable screens in Year 2 that will aim to identify molecules that will improve the survival and function of stem cell-derived beta-like cells during lab-based manufacturing.  

In Theme 2, led by Dr. Megan Levings and focused on protecting insulin-producing beta cells from immune attack, the team discovered that insulin seems to impair the function of T regulatory cells (Tregs) – a special type of immune cell that suppresses autoimmune and inflammatory responses – and are now working to immune-engineer Tregs so that they work optimally to shut down unwanted immune responses in the insulin-rich environment of the pancreas. Theme 2 researchers also began testing a new therapeutic approach involving lipid nanoparticles (the same technology used for mRNA-containing COVID-19 vaccines) designed to stop the autoimmune attack of beta cells, with the aim of preserving insulin production.  

In Theme 3, led by Dr. Jim Johnson and focused on targeting and monitoring beta cell stress (a potential contributing factor to T1D), the team made key advances in understanding stress protection mechanisms in beta cells that might open up new therapeutic opportunities. The team also discovered that an enzyme called PC1/3, which is involved in the production of the insulin hormone, is impaired prior to a T1D diagnosis, providing new insight into the early stages of T1D development. 

“The goal of a JDRF Centre of Excellence was to create something that is more than the sum of its parts – and that was evident in the progress achieved during Year 1,” said Dr. Sarah Linklater, JDRF Canada’s Chief Scientific Officer. “JDRF is proud to be supporting this innovative team, and excited about the pace and direction of the research program.”

The day also included formal announcement of two new $20,000 seed grants funded to UBC investigators through the Centre, awarded through a competitive process designed to expand the scope of the Centre’s research program and bring young new investigators into the collaborative research team. Dr. Dan Luciani was successful in securing a grant to investigate the potential of a protein called TFEB as a new therapeutic target in T1D. Dr. Hongshen Ma will use his grant to develop a new tool for measuring insulin production at the single cell level and apply this to understand the molecular function and heterogeneity of islets and stem cell-derived islets. These high-risk, high-reward projects will synergize with ongoing projects at the Centre will report their results at next year’s annual meeting. 

The highlight of the day was undoubtedly the afternoon’s knowledge translation session, when 9 of the Centre’s junior trainees shared the goals and potential impact of their projects in 3-minute verbal presentations intended for a lay audience. These oral presentations were based on written summaries about the trainees’ research projects, also intended for a lay audience, circulated before the meeting. The oral presentations were followed by an opportunity for trainees and people with lived experience of T1D to share perspectives on what it means to live with T1D, what a cure would mean, and how researchers and the T1D community can better work together to accelerate research. 

“Working in the lab and pondering basic biology, it can be easy to lose touch with the broad impact of our day-to-day science,” said Natalie Nahirney, a graduate student in Dr. James Johnson’s lab. “It was a great experience to meet individuals and families affected by type 1 diabetes, and opportunities like this are an important reminder of the real motivation behind our research.”  

“As a parent of a child with T1D, there is nothing more that I want than to be able to take this disease, the worry, and the burden, away for my son,” said JDRF volunteer Angela Barrington-Foote, who attended the event. “Reading about all the research being done is one thing, but to physically be in a room full of brilliant minds, watching them collaborate and talk about what they are doing and the advancements they have made – I was in awe. And to be able to share my lived experience to bring value and meaning to all the effort and work being done was very rewarding. I left at the end of the day full of gratitude, appreciation, hope, and excitement for my son’s future!” 

Future plans for the Centre are focused on the overall goal of bringing new cure therapies to the clinical testing stage. Read more about the Centre here or at UBC’s new dedicated webpage at jdrf.med.ubc.ca 

This is the first therapeutic on the market
that may help delay the onset of clinical
type 1 diabetes

November 17, 2022

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) weighed the evidence for teplizumab to delay type 1 diabetes (T1D) in at-risk individuals, and the T1D community got a big win: Approved! Teplizumab (Provention Bio brand name Tzield) is the first disease-modifying therapy for individuals at-risk for developing T1D. (At-risk means that they exhibited 2+ T1D-related autoantibodies—antibodies against one’s own self—and their blood glucose is starting to be abnormal, but they have not yet become insulin dependent.)

For the first time in history, there is an approved therapy that addresses the autoimmunity behind T1D—not just the symptoms that it causes.

Teplizumab can start to address the stark unmet need for disease-modifying therapies and provide people at-risk for T1D and their families at least two more years without the burden and complications this disease brings. Teplizumab, and multiple potential disease-modifying therapies that JDRF has invested research into, put us on the critical pathway to finding cures and, one day, preventing T1D entirely.

JDRF and all its affiliates thank the FDA for their thorough and thoughtful review of the teplizumab evidence and data, showing that the benefits of teplizumab outweigh the risks to delay clinical T1D in at-risk individuals.

A day decades in the making

The approval of teplizumab would simply not have been possible without decades of JDRF work, from funding discovery research to clinical development to work with regulators. JDRF had a hand in the development of teplizumab from the very beginning.

The JDRF T1D fund made a strategic investment in Provention Bio in 2017 that brought the company into T1D for the first time. That investment has helped catalyze hundreds of millions of dollars toward clinical development, regulatory work, and launch preparation that made this moment possible.

Teplizumab is now the first ever disease-modifying therapy for T1D. In clinical trials led by TrialNet and supported by JDRF and other funders, teplizumab was able to significantly delay—for over two years—the onset of T1D in participants with a high risk of developing the disease, the first time a study in humans demonstrated a delay in the onset of T1D.

In long-term follow up of trial participants,  the effect of teplizumab was even more striking: 50% of those treated with teplizumab remain diabetes-free, compared to only 22% of those taking placebo, and the delay in diabetes onset was close to 3 years (35 months).

Additionally, the participants, in both the teplizumab and placebo groups, had had a progressive decline in the biomarker that measure’s the body’s ability to produce insulin—C-peptide—preceding the trial. But the study team found that production of C-peptide went up following treatment with teplizumab, particularly in the first 6 months after treatment. Teplizumab could potentially reverse the downward trajectory of C-peptide loss that was there before the trial.

A key tenet of JDRF’s research funding strategy is that there are multiple pathways to cures for T1D, one of which includes screening for risk and use of therapeutics to delay or even prevent the onset of the disease developing – to give more time to the individual to adapt before requiring external insulin.

On Thursday, October 6, 2022, Provention Bio announced that it was partnering with pharmaceutical manufacturer Sanofi to support the US launch of teplizumab.

This co-promotion agreement will enable Provention Bio to leverage Sanofi’s substantial expertise, capabilities and commercial resources to bring the drug to those in the US in need with high efficiency.

The importance of screening

JDRF, through research grants, T1D Fund investments, and advocacy, has accelerated multiple potential disease-modifying therapies for T1D that may help to move the field towards this goal. Screening is the only way that individuals can determine their risk and to find out if they are candidates for such therapies.

Canadians who have a first-degree family member with T1D can currently be screened via TrialNet. Research has shown that family members of people with T1D are at a 15x greater risk of developing T1D than the general population. The goal for this program aligns with JDRF’s research strategy of identifying preventative and screening measures that will stop the disease before it starts.

JDRF Canada has also launched a funding opportunity, in partnership with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), for a T1D Screening Research Consortium to be announced in summer 2023.

One of Canada’s longest running and top fundraising events returned to in-person Rides in Montréal and Toronto, on October 6 and 13, 2022 respectively, along with virtual rides across the country. For 35 years Sun Life Ride to Defeat Diabetes for JDRF has been bringing together corporate executives and teams to pedal for a cure for type 1 diabetes (T1D).

Participants from corporate Canada jumped on dozens of stationary bikes set up at two signature Ride locations in Montréal and Toronto or participated from their homes in the virtual event between October 6-13. Whether in-person or virtual, Canadians once again showed their competitive spirit to raise funds to help fund the most promising research into cures and therapies for T1D.

Almost 870 teams and over 3600 fundraisers from more than 70 Canadian companies coast to coast joined us either in person or virtually. To date participants have secured more than 10,500 donations for the Ride program. We could not be more grateful for everyone’s efforts!

Thank you to SpinCo., Orangetheory, Mula Yoga and Luna Yoga. We are very appreciative of their time and expertise, and for providing our participants with gym quality workouts they could do at home.

JDRF would also like to acknowledge Peter Oliver, an amazing man and supporter who sadly passed away in late September 2022. In 1986, shortly after he began volunteering at JDRF after his daughter Vanessa’s diagnosis when she was just six years old, he founded the JDRF Ride to Defeat Diabetes. In the years since, the event has raised over $70 million for diabetes research, and has introduced thousands of volunteers to the JDRF mission. He was never far from our minds, and we will always remember his unwavering spirit and dedication to finding a cure for diabetes every Ride.

JDRF is thrilled to announce that over $1.4 million and counting has been raised for this year’s Ride program to support T1D research. To everyone who participated in the Ride, whether in-person or virtual – thank you. Together, we made a difference for the close to 300,000 Canadians who live with type 1 diabetes.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our sponsor and volunteers, without whom this event would not be a success. Thanks to their support, we were also able to offer an incredible day of high energy workouts and music, highlight inspirational stories through video and speakers, and ultimately get us closer to our goal for cures for type 1 diabetes.

Sun Life has been a proud supporter of the Ride since 2017, and in 2019 they became the national title sponsor. Sun Life is committed to supporting the over 422 million people worldwide living with the disease.

Thank you again to everyone who participated and to our incredible corporate partners.
We hope to see you all next year!

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A key tenet of JDRF’s research funding strategy is that there are multiple pathways to cures for type 1 diabetes (T1D), one of which includes screening for risk and use of therapeutics to delay or even prevent the onset of the disease developing – to give more time to the individual to adapt before requiring external insulin.

On Thursday, October 6, 2022, Provention Bio announced that it will partner with pharmaceutical manufacturer Sanofi to support the launch of teplizumab, if it is approved for use in the general population.

What does this partnership mean?

JDRF, through research grants, T1D Fund investments, and advocacy, has accelerated multiple potential disease modifying therapies for T1D that may help to move the field towards this goal. Screening is the only way that individuals can determine their risk and to find out if they are candidates for such therapies.

The importance of screening

Canadians who have a family member with T1D can currently be screened via TrialNet. Research has shown that family members of people with T1D are at a 15x greater risk of developing T1D than the general population.

The goal for this program aligns with JDRF’s research strategy of identifying preventative and screening measures that will stop the disease before it starts.

A biologic drug called teplizumab has shown great promise as the first ever disease-modifying therapy for T1D. In clinical trials led by TrialNet and supported by JDRF and other funders, teplizumab was able to significantly delay—for over two years—the onset of type 1 diabetes (T1D) in participants with a high risk of developing the disease, the first time a study in humans demonstrated a delay in the onset of T1D.

In long-term follow up of trial participants, and the effect of teplizumab was even more striking: 50% of those treated with teplizumab remain diabetes-free, compared to only 22% of those taking placebo, and the delay in diabetes onset was close to 3 years (35 months).

Additionally, the participants, in both the teplizumab and placebo groups, had had a progressive decline in the biomarker that measure’s the body’s ability to produce insulin—C-peptide—preceding the trial. But the study team found that production of C-peptide went up following treatment with teplizumab, particularly in the first 6 months after treatment. Teplizumab could potentially reverse the downward trajectory of C-peptide loss that was there before the trial.

The drug, now being developed by Provention Bio, was submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in early 2021 – and was the first disease-modifying drug ever submitted for approval to the regulator for use in T1D. On May 27, 2021, an advisory committee to the FDA recommended that teplizumab be approved for prevention of T1D.

However, on July 2, 2022, the FDA issued a Complete Response Letter to Provention Bio,. but ultimately the drug was not approved, and the company was asked to provide more data on issues concerning manufacturing before resubmitting for approval

What’s next?

As of October 2022, teplizumab is again under review at the FDA. The FDA has until November 17th to finish its review of the application.

As a part of this co-promotion agreement, Sanofi will bring its extensive network of industry leaders and sales and marketing team to Provention Bio, meaning it can support increased screening and help raise awareness for teplizumab which, if approved, will be the first-ever disease modifying therapy for T1D.

The JDRF T1D fund made a strategic investment in Provention Bio in 2017 that brought the company into T1D for the first time. That investment has helped catalyze hundreds of millions of dollars toward clinical development, regulatory work, and launch preparation that led to the partnership with Sanofi.

This partnership demonstrates an endorsement of the potential for T1D disease-modifying therapies from one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies. Moreover, if teplizumab is approved by the FDA, the agreement will allow more people to learn about the drug and ideally benefit from it.

JDRF’s T1D Fund has more than 20 active cures programs in development. Sanofi’s support of teplizumab gives us confidence that large pharmaceutical companies will invest more readily in these ground-breaking programs and help drive toward cures faster.

Learn more at the press release.

JDRF Canada will continue to follow the results of the FDA application review and provide updates as to when teplizumab may be available for use in Canada.

Tell me a little bit more about your background.  

“I’ve come from the UK to Canada, to Vancouver. I did my undergraduate degree at the University of Aberdeen where I studied biomedical science, and then moved to Manchester to get into cancer research. They have a really fantastic cancer research center there. I did my Masters there in oncology and then carried on to do my PhD in cancer research, and focused on how radiotherapy affects the way that immune cells interact with cancer cells. What I took away from my Masters and for my PhD, from the research work, was this desire to understand how immune cells interact with each other, how they interact with other cells, and how those interactions really tune and enable the function of the immune cell.”

What brought you to Vancouver?  

 “I wanted to branch away from cancer a little bit, and understand the immune system in different contexts. So, I came to Vancouver, BC, into Dr. Megan Levings’ lab, where she works on regulatory T cells (Tregs). I’ve never worked on T cells before, so I’ve been learning loads of things. It’s fantastic to get a new perspective on immunology and get some fresh ideas.”  

What drew you to  type 1 diabetes?  

 “It has such a profound impact over the lifetime of the patients, from very early years for some kids. And it’s fantastic to be working in an area where there’s so much potential to see my research actually make a clinical impact, and make an impact that could really change someone’s life from very early years onwards. I find it really appealing to work within the area of type 1 diabetes. It is really encouraging and motivating.”  

What are you planning on investigating at the JDRF Center of Excellence at UBC?  

“I’m working on Tregs. Our goal is to develop Tregs that we can use in adoptive cell therapy. So we can take these Tregs, which is an immunosuppressive T cell subset, and we can take them out of a person, we can expand them in our lab. And then the goal is to infuse these back into a patient and they suppress the immune response that’s involved in type 1 diabetes. So that’s the broader goal within the lab. And where my work comes in is studying the metabolism of these Tregs that we’re working on and engineering them to respond better in the pancreatic microenvironment.    

Currently, to treat many autoimmune diseases, we rely on really strong immunomodulatory or immunosuppressive drugs, but they have a really huge effect on the well-being of a patient and the health of a patient. The ultimate goal is to move away from using strong immunosuppressive drugs and actually be able to target the  response that’s involved in diabetes. And so that’s why we’re engineering Tregs to specifically target the immune response that’s killing beta cells in the body.”   

How is the JDRF-SCN fellowship going to impact your research?  

 “The funding itself is really incredible. Unfortunately, research is expensive and we need donations and we need funding. It’s really fantastic that JDRF and SCN have decided to invest in me specifically, I think that’s very encouraging. But also, JDRF and the SCN are huge networks of researchers, of scientists across the country, across the continent and across the world. Whenever you start bringing scientists together, particularly from different areas of research – I’m an immunologist, but I’m working with stem cell biologists, with clinicians – and when you bring all those perspectives together in kind of the unique way that the JDRF does especially, I think that there’s so much opportunity for learning, for creating these networks that really support research. I think a lot of the most exciting research comes from collaborations between different fields.”  

What’s something you wish more people knew about your field?  

“I think it can be difficult from the outside to understand just how circuitous research is. How much the path weaves around. It’s not a straight road from, having a hypothesis and then doing some experiments and finding out the truth. Sometimes you hit dead ends, even though something seemed very promising, and sometimes you might find two things that disagree with each other, and you need to figure out why.   

“And sometimes it’s easy to look at big headlines in newspapers, in articles, that kind of give us this sense of reality, [but] that finding can be oversold, or it can be exaggerated, and then it can be really discouraging when you see another headline that gives you conflicting information. And this isn’t scientists kind of pretending that their work is better than it is. It’s not scientists lying about their work. That’s just how science works, is that sometimes it leads to conflicting information, but in the end, the goal of everyone working in science is working towards the truth. But sometimes you take a few steps backwards.   

“Sometimes scientists will publish information and then a couple years later, they might find that there was a flaw in that and they’ll publish something that might be different, and that’s totally normal in science. But it doesn’t take away, I think, from the reliability of science or how much we can trust in in scientists and in medicine. It’s just part of the process.” 

What were some of the more surprising challenges of your research or your career?   

“I think what surprised me moving from my undergrad into actual research was the amount of teamwork that goes on. You get told during your undergrad or back at school that “you just get your work done and you’ll be fine, focus on what you’re doing yourself”. But actually, you enter into research and it’s all teamwork. You need to be working together. You need to be sharing your data and your ideas and that’s where the best research comes from, is through teamwork. I think that’s not something that I was aware of before going into research, is how team based it is. But it’s been an absolute pleasure, developing a lot of those communication skills. A lot of those teamwork skills that are necessary in research, in doing good research.   

“I think people have an idea of lone scientists, just in the lab, on your own, doing your work. And that’s absolutely not it– there are times when you’re in the lab at midnight on your own, but from a broader perspective, you can’t work on your own.”  

On a similar note, how does the JDRF Center of Excellence and those opportunities for collaboration affect your work right now, especially because you’re coming to a type 1 diabetes lab with a background in oncology?  

 “There’s been a lot of learning in the past few months. I obviously hadn’t worked on diabetes before joining Dr. Levings’ lab, so I’m still learning about the biology of diabetes, how it’s treated, how it impacts patients. Autoimmunity is almost the opposite of the spectrum from cancer in many ways, so learning about the biology of that has been difficult, but there’s been so much help. There’s a huge network here and I know that I can turn to different people who have expertise in the areas where I specifically need it. Because in the end, we all share the same goal and we’re all working towards potentially combining what we’re working on at the end goal. I’m working on the immunology side, other people will be working on the stem cell side, and really, the end goal is to be combining those in the future.”   

What are some of your favourite aspects of what you do as a researcher?  

“My favourite thing is always, as simple as it might sound, looking under a microscope, looking at immune cells, and looking at how they move around, how they interact, because it shows how complex our bodies are. How interesting it is, if just taking a few cells out of our body and looking at it under a microscope is that interesting and complex, how complex is our body as a whole? And so, just chipping away at that complexity is really exciting, in my opinion.”   

What interests you or excites you outside of your research?  

“I love climbing mountains, I love hiking and climbing, and I get excited about getting outdoors.  I love getting away from the business and really feeling the openness of the mountains of nature and that serenity.”  

JDRF Canada thanks Dr. Tuomela for her time and congratulates her on the fellowship award. We wish her the best of luck with her post-doctoral work, and we will share research updates when they become available.  

September 23, 2022 
 
JDRF is deeply saddened by the loss of an incredible individual who made an unparalleled impact at JDRF, Peter Oliver.  
 
“Peter possessed a multitude of qualities that defined him as a leader – visionary, credible, trustworthy, respectful, influential, and empowering are just a few of these traits,” said Dave Prowten, President and CEO of JDRF Canada. “His contributions to JDRF are immeasurable and will have a profound impact on the type 1 diabetes (T1D) community for years to come. On a personal level, he was a dear friend and confidante to many of us, and he will be deeply missed.”  
 
After immigrating to Canada from Cape Town, South Africa and achieving success as an entrepreneur co-founding Oliver & Bonacini restaurants, Peter focused his attention on giving back to his communities. The T1D community was at the top of his list. For over 35 years, Peter gave generously to JDRF as a volunteer and donor while helping raise more than $200 million to find a cure for T1D.  
 
The day Peter’s daughter Vanessa was diagnosed with T1D was a day that changed the family’s lives forever. It was also the day Peter vowed to do everything in his power to help change the course of this 24/7 disease. Shortly after he began volunteering at JDRF, he founded the JDRF Ride to Defeat Diabetes in 1986, an event that has raised over $70 million and continues to engage thousands of volunteers across the country. He went on to serve on JDRF’s National Board of Directors from 2004-2008 and co-chair the In Our Lifetime Campaign in 2015 — JDRF’s first major gift campaign, which raised $55 million, as well as JDRF’s ongoing $100M Campaign to Accelerate.  
 
Over the last two years, Peter was a driving force as co-chair of the $100M Campaign to Accelerate. He was instrumental in raising nearly 69% of our $100 million goal in just two years, inspiring the two largest gifts to the campaign to date. He hoped to see the campaign through to completion and spent day and night strategizing new ways to raise the remaining amount. He wanted nothing more than a cure for his daughter and the millions of people around the world living with T1D –  so much so the only regret he expressed before passing was that he was not able to finish the $100 million campaign fundraising efforts – a testament to his belief in the power of this campaign’s impact.  
 
Recently, Peter came full circle on a labour of love he began 32 years ago when he lived atop a flagpole in Toronto’s Mel Lastman Square to sell raffle tickets for JDRF. Peter was passionate about bringing back his flagpole challenge during the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin. In the spring of 2022, he rallied hundreds of people around the country to support five Leaders in History, including his daughter Vanessa, as they lived atop flagpoles for 100 hours, raising millions for type 1 diabetes research. Nearly 100 families nationwide joined the challenge and camped out in solidarity.  

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“Peter was a force to be reckoned with and always asked, we need to think bigger. The impact he has had on the T1D community cannot be expressed in words. Because Peter touched everyone he met. He had a unique ability to bring people together and always think bigger. He has had a transformational impact at JDRF and we will forever be grateful, for his leadership, tenacity and friendship.”

– Jessica Diniz, Chief Development Officer

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Peter lit up every room he entered with his energy and passion. With a presence larger than life, he made everyone around him feel special. Peter always wanted to make a difference, and his dedication continues to inspire JDRF donors, volunteers, and staff alike. He was relentless on his mission to find a cure, saying: 

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“When there is a cure for diabetes – and there will be – it will go down as one of the greatest achievements in the history of mankind. We will not stop until there is a cure.”

– Peter Oliver

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The JDRF team, galvanized by Peter’s legacy, will continue to raise funds and accelerate research at full speed to achieve the vision they share with Peter of a world without diabetes.

The following is sponsored content developed in partnership with AMG Medical

Low blood glucose—also known as hypoglycemia—can be one of the most challenging, stressful, and often scary parts of living with diabetes. Learning how to treat hypoglycemia is very important.

If you live with type 1 diabetes (T1D), you know that being prepared for low blood glucose emergencies with at least 15 grams of fast-acting carbohydrates is the goal, but there can be times when we find ourselves low and must use other foods.

There are many reasons why doctors and pharmacies might recommend glucose tabs over a bowl of ice cream when it comes to treating certain kinds of low blood glucose. While the fat and protein in the ice cream slow down the digestion of the sugar, the type of sugar in any carbohydrate source affects absorption too.

If you’ve ever wondered why a bowl of raspberries has a lower impact on blood glucose than the same amount of carbohydrates from a bowl of grapes, it’s all about the amount of glucose vs. fructose vs. sucrose.

Let’s look at these sugars and how they work:

GLUCOSE / DEXTROSE

Glucose—also known as dextrose— immediately raises blood glucose levels because it is already in the form of sugar your brain and cells recognize and require for energy, making it the most rapidly absorbed source of carbohydrates if experiencing hypoglycemia.

Some sources of 100% glucose include glucose tabs such as Dex4 tabs, glucose gel, and liquiblast.

FRUCTOSE

Fructose, or fruit sugar, is a simple sugar found naturally in many plants, where it is often bonded to glucose to form sucrose.

Some sources of fructose include fruit, fruit juice, honey, pasta, bread, veggies, and many processed foods and drinks such as sugary sodas.

Fructose on its own does not break down into glucose to raise your blood glucose levels. Instead, the liver metabolizes fructose, raising cholesterol and lipid levels.  If you use an apple to treat low blood glucose, only a percentage of the carbohydrates in that apple will raise your blood glucose levels. Your body must also break down the fibrous apple for the sucrose and glucose it contains to reach your bloodstream.

SUCROSE

Sucrose is known as a “double sugar” or “disaccharide” because it’s made of equal parts of glucose and fructose.

Some sources of sucrose include white/brown sugar, maple syrup, jellybeans, gummy candies, and more processed candies/snacks.

This means half of the carbohydrates in a packet of white sugar will raise your blood sugar quickly and the other half will be metabolized by your liver.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Low blood glucose is a real part of living with diabetes—especially if you take insulin. Being prepared for low blood glucose levels comes down to having fast-acting carbohydrates in all the right places.

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Keeping dried fruit or other snacks on hand is a smart idea, but having a more direct glucose source like concentrated gels or Dex4 tabs is a good option because they work quickly and are easy to store in your car, purse, nightstand, gym bag, desk, and winter coat – and they don’t freeze, melt or rot.

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HOW TO USE GLUCOSE TABLETS

When your blood glucose drops below a target range (for most people, less than 4 mmol/L), it is considered low. Most glucose tablets contain 4 grams of carbs each and it’s typically recommended that you eat 4 tablets (16 carbs) while experiencing a low. Tabs can relieve hypoglycemia symptoms within 10 minutes, so you should check your blood glucose10-15 minutes after ingestion to ensure your levels are rising and you are back to a safe range.

NOTE: Tabs and gels are great for everyday safety for people with type 1 diabetes (T1D), but they should not be used if you or your loved one are having a severe reaction to low blood glucose or are losing consciousness. Carry emergency glucagon and always tell someone if you feel you might pass out.

Disclaimer: This post was prepared in partnership with AMG Medical – a Montreal-based distributor of quality Medical Supplies & Home Health Care products and a generous supporter of the Sun Life Walk to Cure Diabetes for JDRF over the last 20 years. Learn more about Dex4 fast-acting glucose.

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There’s a lot to remember when you live with T1D. JDRF is here to support you, visit our website for more information on daily management and other resources breakthrought1d.ca/daily-management/ and connect with the T1D community as part of our new Facebook Group.  facebook.com/groups/jdrft1dsupport

JDRF Canada is thrilled to partner with Michael Smith Health Research BC to award type 1 diabetes (T1D) researcher Dr. Tricia Tang a Health Research BC Health Professional-Investigator (HP-I) award.

A key focus of JDRF is improving the mental health outcomes for people living with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Part of this is creating research partnerships that help extend and further our impact in addressing the gaps in Canadian mental healthcare for people with T1D.

As part of our goal to increase Canadian research capacity in mental health and T1D, JDRF has partnered with Michael Smith Health Research BC, British Columbia’s health research agency, to offer salary support to a researcher working in the T1D field through their HP-I award program. Health Research BC inspires and connects curious, creative, and passionate minds to drive discovery and innovation for better health and health care.,

Collaboration is key to both organizations, as partnership helps to support excellence in health research such as funding outstanding researchers like Dr. Tang; as well as help grow needed research talent and innovation.

The HP-I Program helps close the gap between health research and its implementation to improve health care. HP-I awards support health professionals who are actively involved in patient care to conduct and apply research relevant to health and/or the health system to ultimately improve health outcomes in BC and beyond.

Health Research BC is delighted JDRF are partnering with us to co-fund Dr. Tang’s HP-I award. We value strong partnerships that are integral to fostering world-class health research in BC. Co-funding on Dr. Tang’s award is particularly exciting as her research looks to address access to mental health support for people with T1D living in rural and remote communities,” says Dr. Danielle Lavallee, VP Research at Health Research BC.

These unique awards provide clinicians with protected time for research and as a result, these awards are highly competitive. These awards build research capacity, a goal of JDRF’s Mental Health Strategy, by helping established clinicians drive and grow important research. By receiving this salary support, Dr. Tang can devote more of her time and efforts to research.

Dr. Tricia Tang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology at the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine. She is also a behavioral scientist and registered clinical psychologist with an expertise in diabetes research in high-risk and medically underserved populations. Over the past 22 years, she has focused on developing, implementing, and evaluating low-cost and sustainable peer support models for improving long-term diabetes-related health outcomes.

Living with T1D means a constant balancing act of measuring blood glucose levels and administering insulin to help try and stave off episodes of low and high blood sugars (hypo and hyperglycemic episodes) and knowing that there is a myriad of potential diabetes related complications, including blindness, kidney disease, amputation and even possible death, and while physical health is often addressed for people with T1D, emotional and mental health frequently is not.

It is also known that people living with T1D experience greater risk of mental health challenges, including chronic anxiety and eating disorders. Among the different psychosocial struggles that patients with diabetes experience, diabetes distress (DD), not depression, is most strongly associated with poor glycemic control.

Diabetes distress is defined as when people living with T1D experience a complex range of negative emotions such as stress, guilt, or denial that result from living with a chronic disease and the often-heavy burden of self-management.

In British Columbia, provincial health coverage does not reimburse for psychological services, so frequently a person in need of mental health support   cannot-afford counselling or find a qualified provider in their community. Add this onto the additional costs associated with living with T1D (for devices, insulins) and mental health needs simply may not get addressed. Dr. Tang seeks to use digital health strategies and peer support models to close this health care gap.

Dr. Tang’s research goal is to design and evaluate a virtual care platform (REACHOUT) for highly trained peer supporters to deliver psychosocial support to adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D) living in rural and remote communities of Interior British Columbia.

“REACHOUT uses technology to drive low-cost and sustainable mental health support to the doorstep of adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D). This digital health model will increase the availability, affordability, and accessibility of mental health support particularly for medically underserved and geographically marginalized communities. With the HP-I award, I have the opportunity to change the landscape of mental health care for the T1D community in British Columbia,” says Dr. Tang.

REACHOUT aims to be very innovative and highly personalized.  Support is delivered by peer supporters who have also experienced diabetes distress and depression; are between ages 19 right through to 90 and from diverse backgrounds; are at different stages of life; and have a wide range of life experiences.

Participants can select who they want to partner with –based on who they believe will best meet their unique support needs at that specific time in their life. And so, selection can change – for example, if a participant gets pregnant and wants to be paired with someone who has already experienced pregnancy with T1D, they can switch. Dr. Tang’s describes REACHOUT as a precision support model where participants, themselves, determine what type of support they want, how much they need, and who will deliver it. 

REACHOUT aims to step out of rigid and more traditional thinking to match people with whom they are optimally suited. This virtual model makes peer counselling accessible to everyone regardless of where they live. In many rural, remote areas in BC, people do not even have access to an endocrinologist, let alone access to specialized psychological care. REACHOUT draws on technology and peer support to reach the “hardly reached.”  

“I became a trained peer supporter to be connected to a T1D community, I have been living in the interior of BC for 16 years and during this time I have met no other person who has T1D,” says Allan Heel, Vernon, BC, who was diagnosed at the age of 25 and has been living with T1D for 32 years.

“It’s also helped me to have reassurance that the challenges I have with T1D are not unique to me, and to be able to share ideas for how to manage these challenges. I also wanted to participate to improve my insight into diabetes technology, drugs, and treatments that are available or being researched and potentially to participate in clinical trials,” he continues.

“I was excited to join REACHOUT for a couple of reasons. First, there is nothing like communicating with another person with diabetes at my own pace, one on one or in a group, about our common experiences with what can be an isolating disease. I was also excited to work with Dr. Tricia Tang and her team. They’re passionate and enthusiastic about helping people with T1D attend to their mental health in support of overall health and having a great life! I feel lucky to have great people in my corner and to give and receive support with my peers,” says Saffron Henderson, East Vancouver, who was diagnosed at 8-years-old and has been living with type 1 diabetes for 46 years.

Learn more about REACHOUT

More about these awards can be found here.

JDRF will continue to provide updates on REACHOUT, with the hopes that this may be tested in other provinces, and eventually rolled out across the country.

JDRF and Health Research BC looks forward to continuing working together in the future, sharing common priorities such as helping to build research capacity, filling strategic gaps in the health system, and optimizing investments in health research.

On Monday July 11, 2022, Vertex Pharmaceuticals announced they acquired ViaCyte for $320 million in cash to help speed up the development of VX-880, Vertex’s stem cell-derived therapy for people with type 1 diabetes (T1D).

What does this mean for Canadians living with type 1 diabetes?

T1D is an autoimmune disorder where the body destroys the beta cells in the pancreas that produce the insulin hormone. People with T1D must administer external insulin, either through injection, pen or pump in order to survive. One of the pathways to cures for T1D is through beta cell replacement therapies that allow the body to start producing its own insulin again, limiting or ideally entirely removing the need for externally administered insulin.

What does this acquisition mean for type 1 diabetes beta cell replacement research?

Per the joint press release, this deal provides Vertex with access to ViaCyte’s:

• Complementary assets.
• Capabilities and technologies including additional human stem cell lines.
• Intellectual property around stem cell differentiation.
• Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) manufacturing; and
• Access to novel hypoimmune stem cell assets via the ViaCyte collaboration with CRISPR Therapeutics.

Advancing beta cell research

This acquisition brings together the two highly innovative companies pursuing cell replacement therapies as a transformative and potentially curative approach for people with T1D.

Vertex and ViaCyte have been working independently to develop cell replacement therapies for people with T1D. This deal will allow them to combine their resources, technologies, and intellectual property, and position Vertex to move cures to market faster.

Both companies currently have in human clinical trials for the stem cell therapies. These require implantation of beta cells into the liver to see if they will encourage the body to start producing its own insulin again.

VX-880 is a “naked” cell therapy that requires the recipient to use immunosuppressive therapy, like other organ or tissue transplants. ViaCyte is testing two stem cell-derived replacement therapies and a CRISPR gene-editing technology for cell replacement that wouldn’t require immunosuppression after implantation.

What is JDRF’s role?

JDRF support has been crucial to getting to this point where both companies have cell replacement therapies in human clinical trials.

JDRF has provided long-time and significant support of ViaCyte through research funding. JDRF support includes the first ever clinical trial to test a stem cell-derived cell replacement therapy for T1D, in 2014.

Vertex’s phase I/II clinical trial of VX-880 was made possible by Dr. Doug Melton’s years of JDRF-funded research and an investment from the T1D fund in Semma Therapeutics—a biotech company founded by Dr. Melton to develop a stem cell-derived islet therapy for T1D—which was acquired by Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

JDRF and all its affiliates have been leaders in stem cell research and have collectively provided funding of over $150 million since 2000, as part of JDRF’s cell therapies program.

Additionally, the T1D Fund has aggressively invested alongside private venture capital firms in the beta cell replacement field.

As part of JDRF’s funding support to cure research, the goal has been to accelerate multiple approaches to cell therapies. Today, 50+ companies and research groups, including Vertex and ViaCyte, are advancing cell replacement development and cures with JDRF support and through the JDRF Beta Cell Replacement Consortium. Vertex’s acquisition of ViaCyte will ideally encourage other companies in this space to evaluate and modify their programs with the goal of finding cures faster.

Both ViaCyte and Vertex have clinical trials currently active in Canada, out of the University of Alberta and McGill respectively.

To learn more about JDRF funded clinical trials actively recruiting in Canada, please click here.

JDRF will continue to monitor the results of VX-880 and report back with updates as they become available.

It often starts with one and becomes a reality with the support of many: one step to begin a walk, one truck to build a transport empire, and one idea to create a leading global charity.  

Like JDRF, Armour Transport Systems arose from humble beginnings in the 1940s, when Mr. Gordon Armour used his truck to haul hay and gravel out of a small farming community near Moncton, New Brunswick. It is now one of Canada’s leading transportation specialists, servicing locations throughout North America. The company is also known for its generous community support of health, youth, and education initiatives, and JDRF is honoured to be Armour’s long-standing charity of choice. 

From monthly employee giving programs, to special raffles and fundraisers, and partnering with JDRF for the Sun Like Walk to Cure Diabetes in Moncton, Armour Transport Systems has made a remarkable impact on type 1 diabetes (T1D) research. Armour recently reached $1 million in giving with their ongoing commitment to the Moncton Walk, which they have supported since 2003. 

“Diabetes has had an impact on many of us here at Armour which is why our employees have been so passionate about raising funds for this important cause,” says Ruby Murphy-Collins, Chief Operating Officer, Armour Transport Systems.  

For the T1D community in Moncton, which includes Jasmine LeBlanc, co-chair of the 2022 Moncton Walk, Armour’s consistent giving provides hope for a better future for everyone living with T1D. This future ultimately includes a cure for T1D, but in the immediate term also means improved treatments and more equitable access to life-saving diabetes technologies like insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), especially in Atlantic Canada, where there is limited public coverage. 

“Armour’s support is amazing – they have been such a big part of our Walk here in Moncton for so many years,” says Jasmine. “Their funding to support diabetes research will make a difference and help lead to a cure for the kids who are newly diagnosed today. And it’s not too late for me either.”

Jasmine was diagnosed at the age of seven and has been living with T1D for just over 20 years. Since her diagnosis, the Walk has provided her with a meaningful space to connect with the T1D community and volunteer her time.

With the pandemic sidelining in-person events for two years, Jasmine, her fellow co-chair Judy Roy, and about 70 others were thrilled to reconnect on a beautiful day at the 2022 Sun Life Walk to Cure Diabetes in Moncton. 

The same was true one province over in Bedford, Nova Scotia, where Brad Price, a longtime Armour employee and the current VP of Operations, attended the Halifax region Walk. To celebrate the company’s $1-million legacy of support, JDRF presented Brad with a certificate of appreciation – a small token of recognition for Armour’s tremendous support.

We would like to thank Armour Transport Systems and the communities in Moncton and Atlantic Canada for being such stalwart JDRF supporters throughout the years. Together, with their help we get ever closer to a world free from type 1 diabetes.