Research Description
Complications associated with severe hypoglycemia, and specifically nocturnal hypoglycemia, are a source of concern for many diabetic individuals and their caregivers. We propose to leverage an emerging approach in the field of materials science to prepare highly unstable materials that exist only in the presence of glucose fuel and rapidly dissipate/dissolve if that fuel is absent to release encapsulated glucagon. This is a new paradigm in glucose-responsive materials. Typically materials developed for use in diabetes have been prepared to only respond to increases in glucose levels with triggered release of insulin. Instead, by engineering devices using this new class of transient fuel-dependent materials, and making these sensitive to the presence of glucose, our materials would release a bolus of glucagon rapidly only in the case where glucose becomes limited during a hypoglycemic episode. Our approach seeks to develop these materials, determine the design rules for optimal glucose-sensing and responsiveness, and then integrate these materials into patient-friendly form-factors for daily prophylactic hypoglycemia protection. Our first envisioned device consists of a nightly injection of glucagon within a gel prepared from our dissipative materials. We have also proposed altering the formulation of these materials to enable a more patient-friendly wearable microneedle device form-factor. It is our vision that, by harnessing this new route to create transient materials, we can facilitate precise glucose sensing and rapid response that is required by the task of addressing severe hypoglycemia with a rescue glucagon device.Research Profile
What area of diabetes research does your project cover? What role will this particular project play in preventing, treating and/or curing diabetes?Serious hypoglycemic episodes, encountered by diabetics an average 1 to 2 times per year, can be life-threatening. The specific case of nocturnal hypoglycemia, drops in blood glucose during sleep, are an especially concerning situation for parents of young children, leading to distress and sleepless nights. Our project seeks to develop new technologies that may act as an “insurance policy” against the onset of such episodes by engineering new approaches in the delivery of glucagon, a hormone that acts as the typical remedy for hypoglycemia. With our envisioned technology, glucagon would be at the ready to be deployed in the event of a hypoglycemic episode.
If a person with diabetes were to ask you how your project will help them in the future, how would you respond?Our team seeks to improve the quality of life of diabetics through more autonomous therapeutic solutions. Our vision through this work is to replace rescue glucagon kits with “smart” alternatives that keep the hormone at the ready in the event it is needed. In so doing, this approach will allow diabetic individuals to live their lives without the need for constant vigilance by altering the traditional paradigm of self-managed blood glucose control.
Why important for you, personally, to become involved in diabetes research? What role will this award play?As a chemical engineer, I am passionate about engineering new materials and devices to combat disease. The unique challenges presented by diabetes, specifically in the requirement that a therapy must address and adjust to normal fluctuations in blood glucose in real time, makes this disease the ultimate challenge in the context of engineering responsive therapies. This award will enable us to assemble a team and mount a sustained effort toward new technology addressing one of the most pressing unmet needs in the therapeutic arsenal for diabetes.
In what direction do you see the future of diabetes research going?The research being done by my team and others seeks to improve the management of diabetes through better therapies. This body of work does not constitute a “cure” for this disease, but instead seeks better and safer routes to address the complications and insufficiencies of present approaches. A true “cure” would make the technologies we are developing unnecessary by instead preserving or restoring normal biological function. My hope is that next-generation approaches may benefit from genomics and genetic engineering to better predict, prevent, or reverse onset in individuals with diabetes as well as those at risk for diabetes. I am also hopeful that efforts in immuno-engineering may yield successful routes to reprogram the body to induce tolerance and prevent or reverse the auto-immune drivers of diabetes. Finally, I am hopeful that advances in stem cell biology may lead to viable and scalable routes for patient-specific tissue transplantation to restore normal endocrine function to deficient individuals.