Category: Uncategorized

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.

The American Diabetes Association’s 82nd Scientific Sessions, were held from June 3-7 both in person and virtually. This annual conference brings together researchers and scientists to both present and learn about the latest in type 1 diabetes research and technological advancements. Many of the presenters are funded by JDRF International, JDRF Canada’s affiliate in the United States.

You can view all the oral and poster presentations on the Diabetes journal website.

Updates in cure-based research:

Stem Cell-Derived Beta Cell Therapy

 Vertex, ViaCyte and Sernova  are making exciting progress in the areas of stem cell derived beta cell therapy, and have all received JDRF funding at some point for their research.

Funding cell replacement therapies research is one of JDRF’s most critical undertakings globally, in its efforts to support the most promising cure-based research into type 1 diabetes (T1D). 

Vertex launched its clinical trial of VX-880, a stem cell-derived beta cell therapy in T1D, in combination with immunosuppressive therapy to protect the cells from rejection, in the summer of 2021. To date, three participants have received the therapy, and one is now insulin independent. ViaCyte, in partnership with CRISPR Therapeutics, initiated its first-in-human gene-edited, stem cell replacement therapy, without immunosuppression, called VCTX210.

Sernova provided an update on the phase I/II clinical trial of their Cell Pouch™—an implantable device designed to form a natural environment and allow the survival and function of insulin-producing (islet) cells. The first three individuals to receive the therapy into the Cell Pouch™, with a supplemental marginal dose of islet cells via the portal vein, have been insulin independent for 2 years, 6 months, and 3 months, respectively. JDRF continues to support Sernova to make their Cell Pouch part of the cure portfolio.

There were also presentations on clinical and preclinical data from several investigations on encapsulation and immune-tolerance strategies, including JDRF-funded James Shapiro, M.D., Ph.D. and Andrew R. Pepper, Ph.D., of the University of Alberta, Canada.

Disease-Modifying Therapies

T1D is caused by adaptive immune cells attacking and eventually killing the beta cells in the pancreas that are responsible for producing insulin – but beta cell stress and dysfunction precede the complete loss of cell function, and immune cells are responsible. The prohormone to islet amyloid polypeptide (proIAPP, for short)—as C. Bruce Verchere, Ph.D., and Rebecca Hull-Meichle, Ph.D., discussed in their presentations—is elevated prior to clinical diagnosis, in addition to proinsulin—the precursor to insulin. proIAPP, in turn, causes inflammation and innate immune cell damage.

Dr. Verchere has developed a test to measure two kinds of proIAPP in humans, which will ultimately provide new insight into beta cell function and pave the way for new therapies and biomarkers of beta cell stress. What does this mean? Potential medications or disease modifying therapies could be brought to market that could slow or stop the immune response responsible for killing the beta cells.

Dr. Verchere received a JDRF postdoctoral fellowship beginning in 1992 and Dr. Hull-Meichle received one in 2001-2003.

Dr. Verchere is now leading the JDRF Center of Excellence at the University of British Columbia, where he is working on immune and beta cell therapies, including stem cell-derived therapies, with Dr. Kieffer; James Johnson, Ph.D., who received a JDRF Career Development Award in 2005-2010; Francis Lynn, Ph.D., who was a JDRF postdoc from 2004-2006, advanced postdoc from 2007-2009, and a JDRF Alan Permutt Career Investigator from 2012-2016; and Megan Levings, Ph.D., who has received two JDRF grants since 2015 and has been a mentor to two JDRF postdocs.

Type 1 Diabetes Screening in the General Population

As a result of decades of JDRF-funded research, it is now possible to identify those at highest risk for developing T1D—those who have two or more autoantibodies present in people with type 1 diabetes.

Several JDRF-funded researchers presented on the current state of screening for both genetic risk and/or T1D-related autoantibodies. Chantal Mathieu, M.D., Ph.D., gave a talk about why it’s time to screen for T1D in the general population. She emphasized that T1D is a serious disease and that decreasing the incidence of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) a potentially life-threatening complication that is often the first sign of T1D in individuals – is cause to warrant population screening.

Post-screening, healthcare practitioners must be available for follow-up and guidance so families know what to do with autoantibody status, including potentially enrolling in clinical trials of disease-modifying therapies like teplizumab, a drug that may slow the development of T1D before DKA. Screening will help identify populations who can benefit from these therapies.

Screening is now a priority of the JDRF-CIHR Partnership to Defeat Diabetes, as it’s seen as a path to a cure by developing disease-modifying therapies to keep the disease from progressing and, ultimately, prevent it entirely.

Improving Lives

Artificial Pancreas Technologies

There were multiple presentations on the ‘artificial pancreas’, or automated insulin delivery (AID), systems.

Some presentations highlights included the results from the first randomized clinical trial testing of a do-it-yourself, or DIY, open-source, community-built AID technology, using the OpenAPS algorithm plus the DANA or YpsoPump insulin pump and the Dexcom G6 continuous glucose monitor (CGM).

The study included 100 children and adults in New Zealand who used the DIY system compared to those without the algorithm, headed by JDRF International grantees Martin de Bock, Ph.D. (who also gave the presentation), and Dana Lewis, the founder of the DIY artificial pancreas system movement. There was no severe hypoglycemia and no DKA, and more participants achieved time-in-range of ˃70% using the OpenAPS algorithm, especially at night.

As well, there was a presentation on the results from a randomized insulin-only iLet bionic pancreas pivotal trial. These were presented by Steven Russell, M.D., Ph.D., at the Advanced Technologies & Treatments for Diabetes (ATTD) conference in April 2022, but now we have reports from the participants, presented by Jill Weissberg-Benchell, Ph.D., a professor at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. The study included adult participants who reported decreased distress, with less burnout due to increased time-in-range and no need to carbohydrate count, and youth who reported positive experiences, including improved A1c, increased independence, and less time managing diabetes.

Diabetic Retinal Disease

Sobha Sivaprasad, M.D., reported on The Restoring Vision Moonshot, an approach to ending diabetic eye disease. The Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) Scale was developed in the 1950s but was limited to point-in-time visual perception.

Dr. Sivaprasad is part of 50 global experts who will review the literature on diabetic eye disease in the next year, to develop an evidence-based updated retinopathy staging scale, creating recommendations that will incorporate decades of progress in functional imaging, other biomarkers, and metrics of quality of life. When this scale is completed, it will lead to the development of early preventive therapies to reduce vison-threatening retinopathy progression, and ultimately improve quality of life for people with T1D.

It’s an exciting time in type 1 diabetes research. JDRF will continue to monitor these studies and provide further updates as they become available.

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The 2022 Sun Life Walk to Cure Diabetes for JDRF was a huge success!

The Walk is the largest fundraising event in Canada to support type 1 diabetes (T1D) research. As a result of the pandemic, for the last two years, JDRF had to shift to a virtual event, and while our supporters still made the Walk an exciting and successful fundraiser – there’s nothing like the T1D community being together in person.

This year, we were so excited to reunite many communities across Canada. We asked you to Step Up to Cure Diabetes and did you ever! We were amazed by the dedication and commitment of our participants.

Almost 900 teams registered in more than 45 communities with each province and territory being able to support JDRF too.

As of June 28, more than $2M has been raised in support of the most promising diabetes research with additional Walks still set to take place.

We designated June as Walk Month and there were two ways to participate in the Walk.

JDRF led signature walks, in Vancouver, Edmonton, Regina, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax on June 12 and across the country, volunteer-led community walks brought together the T1D community.

The Walk is more than just a fundraiser. It’s a chance for families living with T1D to get together, share their stories and offer support. For many first-year Walkers, they or their child were diagnosed during the pandemic, and this was the first time they could meet safely with others who have already been there. Families talked about going back to school for the first time with T1D, nutrition and exercise tips, and helped those who have been newly diagnosed know they were not alone.

Cassie’s son, Connor, was diagnosed with T1D in 2020 at the age of five. It’s important for Cassie that Connor knows that he is not alone.

“It’s not just about raising money, or awareness, it’s that sense of community. It’s about celebrating the resilience of all the kids who live with T1D and connecting with other parents and families who know exactly what you are going through. It meant the world to me to see Connor’s face light up when he saw other kids wearing fanny packs, sporting their pumps & CGMs. It’s one thing to see kids like him on social media, but it is on a whole different level when he sees them in person,” – Cassie Donnelly, Medicine Hat, Alberta.

Most signature Walks had a tent designated specifically for new families, supported by JDRF Volunteer and Community Engagement staff to provide the most up to date information and resources. Games were set up for the kids and emcees helped keep the energy going with music. Across the country, each Walk location had their own unique offerings for the T1D community.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all our sponsors, who helped us welcome Walk participants back to in-person events! With their support, we were able to offer an incredible day with pre-Walk stretching, delicious refreshments and valuable resources for T1D families.

At the Toronto location, MP Sonia Sidhu announced the renewal of the JDRF-CIHR Partnership to Defeat Diabetes, a commitment of $30 million in new funding for T1D research.

Walk Day was a day of fun, sharing, a lot of laughter and some tears. We are so grateful to everyone who helped to make it happen and are excited to see the T1D community gather at upcoming Walks.

Thank you so much to our Walkers, volunteers, donors and our national partners. We could not have done it without you. Every step that you took brings us closer to a world free from type 1 diabetes.

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Thank you to our onsite partners for welcoming participants back to
in-person events!

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Local partners

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Community partners

In collaboration with CIHR, JDRF Canada has recently announced a major funding opportunity in the area of screening for T1D risk. Here, we explain the reason why screening for T1D risk is central to our quest for cures. 

Researchers use the word ‘cures’ deliberately, as there are many pathways to a world free from T1D. One such path is screening and prevention – catching the disease before the onset of clinical symptoms. T1D is an autoimmune disease, where the body attacks the beta cells in the pancreas responsible for producing insulin. The key to protecting beta cells is to discover this autoimmune response early enough to slow it down or halt it entirely. 

Universal screening offers the potential to identify people who are at risk of developing T1D. Canada has one of the fastest growing rates of T1D diagnoses anywhere in the world – and we don’t know why. The more we screen people, the greater the likelihood of unlocking the mechanisms behind the development of the disease. 

JDRF-funded research previously discovered that the presence of two or more specific markers indicative of an autoimmune response to the pancreas – called autoantibodies – indicates that a person is almost 100% likely to develop T1D in their lifetime. Screening also provides the opportunity to educate those at risk about the signs and symptoms of T1D and provide supportive follow-up, preventing the life-threatening complication diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) at diagnosis. Finally, we know that while first-degree family members of T1D are at an elevated risk of developing T1D, around 85-90% of newly diagnosed cases do not have a direct family connection. 

It’s not just about preventing DKA.  

The prevailing medical wisdom used to be that T1D developed quickly, with a sudden onset of symptoms including thirst, hunger, increased urination, weight loss, and fatigue. Thanks to advances in screening and a better understanding of the human immune system, we now know that T1D does not develop suddenly but in fact the disease process usually starts long before insulin is required. 

Once the immune system begins to attack the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, we can detect markers in the blood (autoantibodies) that tell us a person is at increased risk. This is because the disease is otherwise asymptomatic or silent earlier on. 

T1D happens in 3 stages: 

Because most people do not have a family history of T1D, symptoms and a diagnosis often come out of the blue. In 25-45% of diagnoses in children in Canada, this unexpected diagnosis comes with DKA, a serious and life-threatening complication that can lead to death if not treated promptly. People with T1D know what to do to minimize the risk of DKA and to seek medical attention if it occurs—but people who have yet to be diagnosed do not. That’s why, unfortunately, a significant percentage of people experience DKA at diagnosis and require hospitalization.  

To avoid this risk, everyone that wants to should have the opportunity to get tested for T1D autoantibodies. If a positive result is found, families could develop a plan for further monitoring with their doctor to avoid serious complications and lower the risk for life-threatening DKA at diagnosis. The hope is that in the future, there may be therapies that allow healthcare professionals to intervene and delay or even prevent T1D onset.  

How to Get Screened 

Currently, only family members of people with T1D can be screened for T1D risk through TrialNet. TrialNet is an international network of leaders in T1D research and clinical care with centers in the United States and internationally. A key goal of JDRF’s global research strategy is to support research that enables introduction of general population screening to identify high-risk individuals for early detection, reduce DKA at diagnosis, and accelerate the evaluation of disease-modifying therapies that could delay or prevent the disease. 

What’s Next for Screening in Canada? 

Now, JDRF Canada is pleased to announce a new funding opportunity in the area of T1D screening in partnership with the CIHR Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes. The goal of the CIHR-JDRF Type 1 Diabetes Screening Research Consortium is to develop a single nationally coordinated research network to explore key research questions about the feasibility and acceptability of a general population T1D screening program in Canada, building on experiences from other countries.  

Most T1D screening studies have up to now focused only on family members. However, as 90% of people diagnosed with T1D do not have any family history, family-based screening does not identify most people at risk. This new funding opportunity looks to address this gap and help us better identify why T1D develops in Canadians, with potential benefits globally. As well, it will help advance research into potential disease-modifying therapies that could be applied at the moment high risk is identified in an individual. 

Stopping T1D before it starts is the ultimate goal, and a universal screening program will be essential to prevent new diagnoses of this disease in the future. 

We strongly encourage you to consult with your or your child’s physician for input as you make decisions about screening for T1D risk. Considering various sources of expert guidance and that from one’s own physician is the best way to make personal health choices. 

JDRF provides seed funding for highly innovative research with significant potential to accelerate the most promising type 1 diabetes (T1D) research in both cures and approaches to improve disease management. JDRF Innovative Grants address key outstanding questions in the field of T1D and have the potential to lead to changes in the traditional ways of approaching T1D research or spur groundbreaking discoveries.

JDRF is thrilled to announce that three Canadian researchers have recently been awarded one-year Innovation Grants for their T1D studies. 

In the new project, the team will build on this work to harness the function of selected genes to help promote beta cell survival, not only during transplant scenarios (stem cell-derived transplants that replace the beta cells that die during the process of T1D), but even to prevent the beta cell loss that triggers T1D in the first place. The team will explore whether already available drugs that can potentially “turn on” these genes can also promote the survival of human beta cells, and promising results could potentially lead to a drug therapy that could extend the life of cell replacement therapies or even prevent T1D from developing.

The team also aims to explore an existing regenerative drug library to find new drugs that may encourage these pancreatic cells to proliferate. The potential benefit of such cell activation is that a future therapy based on this work could avoid invasive surgery and maintain the vascular and spatial structure of the pancreas, both of which are important for beta cells to control blood glucose effectively and safely.

Severe defects in a protein named cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR) cause cystic fibrosis. This same protein, CFTR, when found in the pancreas of people with cystic fibrosis, causes pancreatic insufficiency. More recently, minor defects in CFTR have been associated with an increased risk of T1D. Once pancreatic insufficiency is better understood in people with T1D, Dr. Lesage can test drugs used to treat cystic fibrosis (initially in mice), to see if they may correct these defects in the CFTR in people with T1D who suffer from pancreatic insufficiency and improve diabetes management.

JDRF Canada will continue to support work that aims to prevent, treat and improve the lives of people with T1D. We will provide updates on these exciting Innovation Grants as they become available.

After years of struggling with the Disability Tax Credit (DTC), Wendell Dempsey breathed a sigh of relief last week when all members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance (FINA) unanimously supported an amendment to the Federal Budget that would ensure all Canadians living with type 1 diabetes (T1D) can access this credit.

For Wendell, the update to the DTC would mean he gets taxed less on his earned income, alleviating some of the stress about the high costs associated with his growing list health complications resulting from T1D.

“This change would mean no more fighting with the doctor to sign off on documents, and no more trying to rationalize how many hours a week it does take to try and control this disease,” he says.

Despite living with type 1 diabetes for more than 20 years, Wendell has only been approved for the DTC a handful of times. “Sometimes I am approved, and sometimes I am not. But my diabetes has always remained constant, and my expenses have only increased.”

Thousands more expressed their gratitude online for this positive step in the right direction, including Joanna Stimpson who took to social media to say “Finally!” thanking her husband Matt who lives with T1D, and bravely shared his story with the House of Commons Committee. Matt  applied for the Disability Tax Credit at the same time as his 14-year-old daughter Tilly. Tilly was approved, and Matt was not, even though they both live with the same condition and the costs incurred and time spent on self-management are relatively the same.

Any Canadian with T1D can attest to the exorbitant costs that come with daily management of this disease. From insulin to devices to supplies, individuals and families can pay up to $15,000 per year out of pocket to survive. T1D is an autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells in a person’s pancreas. People with T1D must administer an external form of insulin, either through injection, pump or pen multiple times a day in order to survive. There is no cure, but diabetes technologies and devices have come a long way to help people manage the disease better and live healthier, easier, and safer lives. But even with careful management, there remains the risk of diabetes related complications including coma, amputations, kidney failure and even death.

The purpose of the DTC is to provide for tax equity by allowing some relief for disability costs, since these are the unavoidable expenses that other taxpayers do not have.  However, it can be difficult for people with T1D to qualify. Many medical professionals, like Dr. Bruce Perkins, an endocrinologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, indicate that the current eligibility process is cumbersome. He has   attested that the 14-hour requirement is arbitrary, outdated and presents too many unfair challenges for people trying to access the benefit.

Dr. Perkins has been a staunch opponent of the 14-hour requirement saying that “the simple fact of a type 1 diabetes diagnosis means that one is already on life-sustaining therapy,  one carries additional weekly physical burdens, burdens with coping psychologically, and major financial burdens from the direct and indirect costs of type 1 diabetes. The requirement that a person with T1D must demonstrate an arbitrary number of hours spent on their disease does not resonate well with the medical community, places unfair burden on the health care provider, and introduces major bias in which individuals with T1D receive a tax credit.”

The proposed amendment to the Budget Bill can alleviate this barrier to access by automatically qualifying people who live with T1D and has the community saying, “Finally!”

A focus of JDRF’s Improving Lives research is to improve glucose control and reduce the burden of self-management by advancing the development of new drugs and devices for people with type 1 diabetes (T1D).

The study: Can adding an approved glucose-lowering drug to treatment with a closed-loop insulin delivery system improve glucose control in T1D?

A JDRF funded collaborative team out of Mount Sinai Hospital and McGill University recently published findings in Nature Medicine about how an add-on treatment to insulin could improve glucose control in adults living with T1D. Empagliflozin is an already approved medication that is used to improve blood glucose levels in people living with type 2 diabetes.

Dr. Bruce Perkins and Dr. Ahmad Haidar, alongside their teams at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre and the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute in Toronto, examined the individual and combined efficacy of the SGLT2 inhibitor empagliflozin – an oral drug that acts on the kidney to rid the body of excess glucose – on the time spent in the glucose target range (3.9-10.0mmol/L) over a 4-week period in people living with T1D. Participants in the study took empagliflozin while using either a closed-loop system or a sensor-augmented insulin pump. The study was placebo-controlled, meaning that some participants did not receive the drug and no participants knew which one they were being administered.

What did the study find?

Empagliflozin improved the time in range whether participants were using the closed-loop system (by 7.2%) or the sensor-augmented insulin pump (11.4%), and also decreased daily insulin doses. Compared with participants who used an insulin pump alone, participants who used a closed loop system plus empagliflozin spent 17.5% more time in range each day (i.e., over 4 hours). As per international consensus guidelines, an increase of the glucose target range of more than 5% is considered clinically meaningful. Since empagliflozin can increase the risk of ketoacidosis in people with T1D, the team also closely monitored daily ketone levels. Although ketone levels were higher in some participants, the researchers observed no episode of diabetic ketoacidosis (a hyperglycemic episode that requires immediate medical attention) with empagliflozin in this study. There were also no episodes of severe hypoglycemia.

What does this mean for people with T1D?

The addition of adjunct therapy to T1D management and especially closed-loop systems holds a lot of promise. Drugs like empagliflozin may also have protective benefits for the heart and the kidneys in people with T1D, and previous studies have shown that the drug can improve HbA1c, weight and blood pressure without increasing hypoglycemia.

What comes next?

Further research is needed with this drug and with other adjunct therapies for people living with T1D –as insulin alone is often not sufficient to help these individuals reach their target blood glucose goals and new therapies offer opportunities to reduce management burden. JDRF will continue to fund the most promising research into drug therapies, and partner with regulators to accelerate approvals, with the aim of driving those that show the greatest promise to market as quickly as possible.