As a scientist, when our founder’s daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes (T1D), she wanted to understand the etiology of the disease and a path to a cure. After speaking to many scientists who study T1D over a period of several years, she kept hearing that the field was siloed largely due to the nature of this complex disease. Scientists shared that many disciplines study it and cross talk is not as robust as it might be and that data is not shared as readily as it could be. Using these concerns as a compass, thesugarscience built a digital platform to foster collaboration between global T1D focused and interdisciplinary scientists.
To date 250 scientists have shared their research across borders in interviews with thesugarscience, there are 700+ members of our platform, and a global audience of 36K is reached regularly on a basis with exclusive programming. Additionally, through the D-Challenge, which was conceived as a dive into data to generate novel T1D hypotheses, in two years, almost $100K has been awarded to winning participants. After the first D-Challenge, it became apparent that a T1D TCR data repository was not yet in existence and could prove extraordinarily useful in helping develop novel hypotheses. We thought that such a repo would help to illustrate the T1D TCR phenotype in context of the prodrome of T1D, yielding some potentially interesting clues about the etiology of T1D both for the next D-Challenge participants and the larger scientific audience. thesugarscience connected the top T1D TCR scientists with an excellent repository and bioinformatician team at iReceptor. These scientists became the architects of a pioneering T1D TCR data repository, which launched December 2022; it has already yielded the first data model and will be a ground-breaking feature of the next D-Challenge.
Working together through thesugarscience platform and the novel data resources we are facilitating, we believe that the talented and passionate members of the T1D research community will make exponential progress in accelerating prevention and ultimately a cure.
About the people:
Monica Westley PhD, founder of thesugarscience. As a Cell and Molecular biologist I am fascinated by the complex physiology that drives T1D. I believe that by increasing connection between researchers who study T1D, interdisciplinary scientists who provide tools that may impact T1D, and bridging the gap between KOL and EC scientists, together we can accelerate research toward a T1D practical cure. I also am a fan of bioinformatics, and using the newest tools to go back and see the even historical data with “new eyes”. Favorite quote: “If not us then who, if not now then when?”
Neha Majety, MD PhD Candidate at Duke Medical School, Science Communications and Marketing Lead, and newsletter editor at thesugarscience. I completed my BS in Molecular and Cellular Biology at Johns Hopkins University. A crucial component of successful science is communication and collaboration and I believe thesugarscience serves as the perfect platform to achieve that for the T1D scientific field. My research interests include beta cell biology, immunotherapy, transplant immunology, and T and B cell immunology. Favorite quote: “The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.” ― Barack Obama
Alex Parrott, graduate student at Virginia Polytechnic and State University, newsletter editor, event reporter, and technical writer for thesugarscience. I am currently pursuing my Master’s of Science in electrical engineering. My bachelor’s was in electrical engineering of micro/nano systems with a minor in BME. My current research is studying multifunctional polymer fibers for wearable biosensors and closed loop systems for T1D management. I believe that having a cross disciplinary approach is the key to solving many of the complexities surrounding T1D and I believe thesugarscience works hard to foster this in the T1D field. The world is becoming globalized at a rapid pace and research should embrace this to open avenues that may have previously been hidden. Favorite quotes; “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking that made them.” – Albert Einstein and “The price of greatness is responsibility” – Winston Churchill
Alexis Carmer, MD, reporter for thesugarscience, works as an anesthesiologist and FDA medical officer. I have been interested in diabetes research and advocacy since 2008 when my daughter was diagnosed with T1D at the age of 5. I have a very diverse clinical career, including academic and community-based anesthesia practices in rural, urban and international settings. My work at the FDA includes pre and post market review of medical device and combination drug-device products, with special interest in automation, machine learning, digital health, innovative clinical trial design, and postmarket surveillance and safety. I am interested in all T1D related research and development, and strongly believe in the mission at thesugarscience of advancing T1D innovations by facilitating interaction between scientists. I learned from my work in the OR and at the FDA that the most productive collaboration is that which includes all of the stakeholders, especially the patient. Favorite quote: “Collaboration is like carbonation for fresh ideas- working together bubbles up ideas that you would not have come up with solo, and gets you further faster.” – Caroline Ghosn.
Andres Moreno, MD Student at Vanderbilt, intern at thesugarscience. I completed my BS in Biomedical Engineering in the joint program between North Carolina State University and University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. I became involved with thesugarscience to become more engaged in T1D research and advocacy as my younger sister was diagnosed with T1D in 2018. My research interests include islet transplantation and immunotherapy. My goal has always been to speed up the work towards a cure for T1D and I believe that thesugarscience is making huge strides in the field to encourage collaboration and f0ster connections to get us there.
Henrik Karlsson, Engineering Fellow at Epic Games, previously Distinguished Engineer at Electronic Arts. 26 years as a professional software engineer. I became involved in T1D research and advocacy in 2020 when my daughter was diagnosed. I also have a son with markers for T1D. Both children have been in clinical trials where my daughter attended a Teplizumab clinical trial. Trying to figure out in what ways I can contribute to get us faster to a cure. My first exposure to T1D research was that it felt like many researchers worked on the same things and did a lot of duplicated work. When I learned about thesugarscience mission and Monica’s vision to address this by connecting researchers I got very excited and wanted to help out. Favorite quote: “The only stupid question is the question that is never asked”