Since the discovery of insulin, some non-diabetics out there assume type 1 (T1) diabetes is simplistic to treat. Yes, before the first teen was injected with magical insulin in 1922, diabetes was a slow and undeniable death. But now T1s just take a few shots, monitor their blood sugars and they're fine, right? I've heard this assumption from friends and strangers multiple times. Yet any T1 diabetic will tell you that's not true. Just ask my brothers and parents who take multiple injections of insulin daily -- it's actually extremely difficult for a person with T1 diabetes to perfectly control their blood sugar to prevent any and all complications. 

Research backs this up. A 2005 clinical study revealed even the most diligent people with diabetes who check their blood sugar multiple times a day only spent 30 percent of that day within normal glucose range. Yes, insulin via needle or pump keeps a diabetic alive, but their blood sugars are not perfectly calibrated like a person with an operating pancreas. And those imperfect blood sugars can cause devastating complications people without diabetes often forget about  -- eye and kidney disease, heart disease, stroke and loss of limbs.

A ton of research dollars are being spent to create an Artificial Pancreas (AP), by pairing the technology of a continuous glucose monitor with an insulin pump. Ideally, with this closed-loop system, a diabetic with an AP would receive just the right amount of insulin at the right time, maintaining "normal" glucose levels for life. The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International (JDRF) is working hard to make the AP a reality. JDRF's Continuous Glucose Sensor Human Clinical Trial is expected to be finished by February 2009 -- it will study the impact of this technology on the actual health of people with T1.

I've often read in cyber-diabetes-space people want A Cure, not an AP. I just don't see these goals as Either/Or. I say pedal to the metal on both fronts. I, too, have been reading about A Cure since my 44-year-old brother was diagnosed with T1 at the age of 13. So far no Cure. But I haven't given up. Why not an AP, too? A device to keep T1 blood glucose levels in a safer holding pattern until the Eagle Has Landed?