DCOE News

Dr. Harlan was invited to speak at the Endocrine Society's Fellows Series: Type 1 Diabetes Care and Management.  His talk titled "Going Beyond Insulin: Emerging Options for T1D" presented options beyond insulin therapy for people living with diabetes, including GLP-1 and SGLT use.  LEARN MORE

UMass Memorial offers convenient eye exams for patients with diabetes.  The 5-day a week clinic provides easy access to annual eye exams for our adult and pediatric diabetes patients while they’re already on campus for their diabetes related appointments.  LEARN MORE

The UMass DCOE was well represented at the American Diabetes Association’s 79^th Scientific Sessions in San Francisco, California.  Our team included award recipients, speakers and research presenters.  LEARN MORE

The second annual Herman G. Berkman Diabetes Clinical Innovation Fund grant has been awarded to Leslie J. Domalik, MD and co-investigator Asem Ali, MD.  Their project aims to improve blood glucose control for all patients admitted to UMass Memorial hospitals who are living with diabetes.  FULL STORY

Studying the islets of people with type 1 diabetes, the laboratories of David Harlan, MD and Sally Kent, PhD definitively put to rest a three decades old debate about whether beta cells express important immune genes called “human leukocyte antigen class II” (HLA Class II).  LEARN MORE 

Nancy Sidhom has been a nurse practitioner at the UMass Diabetes Center of Excellence since 2013.  She enjoys partnering with patients to help them better manage daily life with diabetes.  Nancy has a passion for proper nutrition and exercise, and strongly believes they are the foundation to proper diabetes self-management.  LEARN MORE  

A study published by the laboratory of Laura C. Alonso, MD, confirms the fidelity of a widely used technique to measure beta cell replication, despite doubt by some in the field.  The ultimate goal of Alonso Lab is to determine approaches to make more beta cells, so as to prevent or treat diabetes.  LEARN MORE

A new study by Benjamin Nwosu, MD, correlates the phenomenon known as partial clinical remission in children newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes with cholesterol levels when they reach puberty.  FULL STORY

The UMass Memorial Diabetes Center of Excellence is using Conversation Maps® as part of our extensive diabetes education program.  Each map addresses a different diabetes topic to help people make lifestyle changes as part of their self-management of the disease.  LEARN MORE

Apoptosis of CD8 T cells is an essential mechanism that maintains immune system homeostasis, prevents autoimmunity, and reduces immunopathology.  Research from the Brehm, Greiner and Davis laboratories at the UMass Diabetes Center of Excellence, was published in The Journal of Immunology.  FULL STORY

The laboratory of Silvia Corvera, MD, was featured on WCVB-TV/ABC in Boston and WJAR-TV/NBC of Providence about their research into transforming white fat into beige fat, to harness its ability to burn energy, accelerate metabolism and fight disease.  FULL STORY AND VIDEO

Rachel Stamateris, an MD/PhD candidate at University of Massachusetts Medical School, has been awarded a prestigious Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Individual Predoctoral Fellowship for dual-doctoral degree students, from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.  Her fellowship experience is intended to enhance Rachel’s integrated research and clinical training as predoctoral student.  Over the next four years, this award will help to sponsor her research and promote her development into a productive, independent physician/clinician-scientist.  READ MORE

Isolating donated islets from a young man who had been treated for 17 years for presumed T1D, scientists found a rare genetic defect had caused his beta cells to function improperly.  Findings were published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.  LEARN MORE

A plan to increase competition and bring down the price of insulin was presented this week by The Food and Drug Administration.  It includes recharacterizing insulin as a biologic instead of a drug, to help drugmakers make biosimilar insulins available to people living with diabetes.  Three companies currently control 90% of the global insulin market and produce all the insulin used in the United States.  FULL STORY

The UMass DCOE is among a few in the world studying human beta cells, the insulin producing cells found only in the pancreas.  The lab of DCOE co-director Dale Greiner, PhD, provided unique immunodeficient mice that allowed for the in-vivo imaging studies which identified a new biomarker for beta cells.  Findings are published in Cell Metabolism, December 2018.  FULL STORY

Laura Alonso, MD, The George F. and Sybil H. Fuller Term Chair in Diabetes, Director of Beta Cell Biological Studies at the UMass Diabetes Center of Excellence, and Professor of Medicine at University of Massachusetts Medical School, has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI).  One of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious medical honor societies, ASCI supports the work of top physician-scientists whose biomedical research translates findings in the laboratory to the advancement of clinical practice.  LEARN MORE

The Brehm and Greiner labs study human immune responses pathways for potential type 1 diabetes therapies.  "Lack of acute xenogeneic graft-versus-host disease, but retention of T-cell function following engraftment of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells in NSG mice deficient in MHC class I and II expression," is published in The FASEB Journal.   LEARN MORE

The First Annual Joe “Nuzzy” Memorial Golf Tournament raised $10,500, which was generously donated to the UMass Memorial Diabetes Center of Excellence (DCOE), to be used for continued patient care.  The family wants the money to help others being treated for diabetes at UMass Memorial.  They recently toured our research laboratories, and were impressed with what they saw.   
FULL STORY

Silvia Corvera, MD, and Michael Czech, PhD, are investigating whether technologies developed in their labs will harness beige fat’s ability to burn energy and accelerate metabolism in order to improve the body’s response to sugar and lower blood glucose levels.  READ MORE

One third of patients that enter the hospital have diabetes.  Our inpatient team sees the many who already have diabetes, and are undergoing a surgery or procedure, or are being treated for another chronic illness, or complication from diabetes.  They also work closely with those getting diagnosed with diabetes for the first time, ensuring that they learn everything needed to leave with “diabetes survival skills.”  Our inpatient team ensures the transition home is smooth, by coordinating necessary medication prescriptions and follow-up appointments. LEARN MORE

People type 1 and type 2 diabetes, even when well-managed, are at high risk of serious flu complications.  The beginning of September is considered the best time to get the vaccine.  The flu shot is a safe and effective way to prevent or reduce the severity of previously mentioned complications.  LEARN MORE

UMass Medical School infectious disease and immunology expert Jennifer Wang, MD, and postdoc Natasha Qaisar, PhD, hope to move closer to better understanding type 1 diabetes, thanks to a grant from the National Institutes of Health. They will work with a new type 1 diabetes animal model to identify pathways which could be stopped in order to prevent the disease from developing. FULL STORY

UMass Diabetes Center of Excellence researcher, David A. Guertin, PhD, recently had a News & Views article published in Nature, the world's leading multidisciplinary science journal.  Fat tissue has a remarkable capacity for growth.  Dr. Guertin responds to new research data and explains why it is exciting to the future of combating obesity.  READ MORE

Words used to describe something shapes the way others perceive and value that thing.  The culture in diabetes tends to be the disease defines the person, such as, “he/she is a diabetic.”  Changing that language to “he is living with diabetes” or “she is thriving with her diabetes care” can make a world of difference.  “A1c and blood glucose numbers should simply be used as data to devise a treatment plan and action plan.  Not a definition of the person,” says Kristin L. MacGregor, PhD, a behavioral psychologist at the UMass Diabetes Center of Excellence. “The truth is, you have the power to manage the disease, it doesn’t control you.”  READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

Diabetes Education has been shown to lower A1c by as much as 1% (similar to adding a medication but without the side effects).  Research shows that people who have received diabetes education are more likely to utilize primary care and preventative services, take medications as prescribed and control their blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol levels.  As a result, those people have lower health costs.  The UMass Memorial Diabetes Center of Excellence offers an extensive education program covering a variety of topics.  Individual sessions and group workshops are available.  LEARN MORE 

This week, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Tandem Diabetes Care’s new t:slim X2 Insulin pump with Basal-IQ technology, Medtronic’s MiniMed(TM) 670G system in patients with type 1 diabetes seven years of age and older, and the first ever implantable continuous glucose monitoring system (CGM).  LEARN MORE

Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have published a study which claims that a nearly century old vaccine against tuberculosis, may help people with type 1 diabetes.  News of this study is being carried throughout the media with attention grabbing headlines such as “Generic Vaccine Could Reverse Type 1 Diabetes” and “Common Vaccine May Reverse the Effects of Type 1 Diabetes.”  UMass Diabetes Center of Excellence scientists and clinicians recommend... READ MORE

The research lab of René Maehr, PhD, was published with the cover story in the June 19 issue of Immunity.  A Single-Cell Transcriptomic Atlas of Thymus Organogenesis Resolves Cell Types and Developmental Maturation highlights their study on thymus development.  LEARN MORE 

Many patients do not understand the role and capabilities of a Nurse Practitioner (NP) when it comes to their diabetes care. NPs are taught two models of care, both the medical model and the nursing model.  The scope of practice of a Nurse Practitioner varies from state to state.  Meet one of the DCOE NPs and find out how she provides care to patients at the UMass Diabetes Center of Excellence.  LEARN MORE

The average list price of insulin has nearly tripled between 2002 and 2013.  The American Diabetes Association recently provided new recommendations for improving insulin access and affordability.  The policy statement addresses four key areas. READ MORE

A new study by UMass Diabetes Center of Excellence physician-scientist Benjamin Nwosu, MD, finds that children with type 1 diabetes who experienced a partial clinical remission, or “honeymoon phase,” had significantly lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or “bad” cholesterol, five years after diagnosis. Children who do not undergo this honeymoon may experience worse outcomes over the long term—including cardiovascular disease.  READ MORE

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk has a strong genetic component.  Genetic studies have already linked a region of the human genome called CDKN2A/B with the risk of T2D, but how and why it increases T2D risk remains unknown.  Our research, funded by a grant by the American Diabetes Association in collaboration with the Order of the Amaranth, took an in-depth look at the specific and subtle ways that these genes impact the insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells.  READ MORE

The American Diabetes Association recommends including behavioral health professionals on diabetes care teams.  The UMass Diabetes Center of Excellence is one of few diabetes centers in the country that currently has behavioral psychologists on staff.  One of them, Kristin L. MacGregor, PhD, was published in Diabetes Care, examining exactly how close diabetes healthcare in the United States really is to meeting those recommendations.  READ MORE

David Harlan, MD, co-director of the UMass Diabetes Center of Excellence, was quoted in today's New York Times article about a new study published in the journal Pediatrics which found that children and adults with type 1 diabetes who followed a very low-carb, high-protein diet for an average of just over two years, combined with insulin at smaller doses than typically required on a normal diet, had “exceptional” blood sugar control and low rates of major complications.  "Perhaps the surprise is that for this large number of patients it is much safer than many experts would have suggested.  I’m excited to see this paper,” Dr. Harlan added. “It should reopen the discussion about whether this is something we should be offering our patients as a therapeutic approach.”  READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Roger J. Davis, PhD has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences.  Membership in the NAS is one of the highest honors bestowed upon a scientist in the United States. He joins four UMass Medical School colleagues who have received membership in recognition of their for outstanding contributions to original research.  His work to explain the molecular mechanism by which inflammation contributes to diabetes, cancer and stroke has been among the most important in this field for more than two decades. READ MORE

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved new integrated technology to help people with diabetes control their blood glucose. 
READ MORE

Although diabetes research centers are well defined by National Institutes of Health, there is no clear definition for clinical Diabetes Centers of Excellence (DCOEs). There are multiple clinical diabetes centers across the United States, however, it is not clear what defines a DCOE from a clinical perspective and what the future will be for these centers. Dr. David Harlan, Co-Director of the UMass Diabetes Center of Excellence, co-authored an article published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, in which they propose a framework to guide advancement for DCOEs.  READ MORE

To better understand the functional and molecular properties of islets from donors with T1D, this research used an approach that studied the pancreas and isolated islets from the same donor, allowing better analysis of the development, properties and behavior of the islets.  LEARN MORE 

Dr. Laura Alonso will be hosting the upcoming Boston Ithaca Islet Club Annual Meeting, the weekend of April 28-29, at the UMass Diabetes Center of Excellence. The two-day forum gathers scientists researching pancreatic islet function, development, growth, immunology and transplantation.  Participants include graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and established investigators from academic centers around the northeast United States and Canada.  READ MORE

Congratulations to Dr. Nancy Morris, Adult Nurse Practitioner in the UMass Diabetes Center, for winning the Excellence in Nursing Education Award.  The award honors nurse educators for teaching, research and practice. It recognizes nurse educators who use innovative approaches to facilitate learning and professional development. READ MORE 

UMass Memorial Health Care is now part of an easy-to-use website that allows the community and service providers to search for and refer to programs they need. The website, CommunityHELP.com, stands for Health and Everyday Living Programs.  Dr. David M. Harlan, co-director of the UMass Diabetes Center of Excellence, feels the website will support patients’ ability to help themselves. “Are the patients engaged? Because if they’re engaged, they’ll do better.”  READ MORE

Sally C. Kent, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Medicine in the Diabetes Division, Diabetes Center of Excellence at UMass Medical School, was recognized by the Network for Pancreatic Organ Donors with Diabetes (nPOD) with a Pioneer Award for her “continued dedication to create a world free of Type 1 Diabetes.”  Jenny Aurielle B. Babon, Ph.D., a Post Doctoral Associate in the Kent Lab, gave a poster and oral presentation at the nPOD Annual Scientific Meeting about their findings looking at the white blood cells from within the islets of a recent-onset T1D donor.  The donor had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes just five months before he passed away, at the age of 23.  READ MORE

Newly diagnosed children with type 1 diabetes sometimes experience a “honeymoon period” during which they are still secreting some insulin on their own and their blood glucose levels can temporarily be restored to at or near normal levels.  A study conducted by UMass Diabetes Center of Excellence physician-scientist Benjamin Nwosu, MD, has confirmed the accuracy of a new, simple method to determine whether children newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes are experiencing this beneficial partial clinical remission.  READ MORE

What is beige fat and what does it do?  Sylvia Corvera, MD explains how UMass researchers are growing these cells and looking into the potential of using them to help people lose weight.  CLICK TO VIEW VIDEO

The bionic pancreas system developed by Boston University (BU) investigators proved better than either conventional or sensor-augmented insulin pump therapy at managing blood sugar levels in patients with type 1 diabetes living at home, with no restrictions, over 11 days. The report of a clinical trial led by a Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) along with three other institutions, including the University of Massachusetts Medical School DCOE, is receiving advance online publication in The Lancet.  READ MORE

The UMass Diabetes Center of Excellence is one of five nationally recognized institutions in the U.S. chosen for a collaborative training program to increase capacity in diabetes psychology. The program will train postdoctoral fellows for one year.  Samantha Barry, PhD, will work with Dr. Kristin MacGregor to improve health behaviors and general mental health as they relate to diabetes management.  READ MORE

Distinguished DCOE nurse practitioner, Sean Collins, PhD, UMMS Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Nursing, has been promoted to U.S. Army Reserves Brigadier General (BG) and will serve as a principal advisor to the Pentagon’s Director of Health Affairs on Guard and Reserve matters. BG Collins has served on the forefront of the diabetes epidemic for more than 30 years.  FULL STORY

Sally C. Kent, PhD, and Jenny Aurielle B. Babon, PhD, have isolated and characterized a large bank of live islet-infiltrating T cells directly from the islets of tissue donors with type 1 diabetes. The findings, published in Nature Medicine, have direct implications for the design of therapies and preventative strategies for those with type 1 diabetes and those at risk for developing it.   READ MORE

UMass Diabetes Diabetes Center of Excellence once again hosted the Central MA Step Out Walk to Stop Diabetes.  The signature fundraising event for the American Diabetes Association took place on the UMass Medical School University Campus.  More than 1000 people participated, including DCOE faculty, staff and families.  Entertainment included representatives from the Red Sox, Patriots, New England Revolution, Worcester Bravehearts, and Worcester Railers.  VIEW PHOTOS 

Louis Messina, MD, UMass Memorial Medical Center's Division Chief for Vascular Surgery and an investigator at the Diabetes Center of Excellence, performed a second surgery on a young woman with middle aortic syndrome, a disease found in less than 1 in 100,000 people.  He first performed a bypass on when she was 3 years old.  It was only expected to last about 10 years.  At age 21, she asked him to once again perform the surgery.  Dr. Messina leads the only team in the northeast that can perform this risky surgery.  FULL STORY AND PHOTOS