A: This is a great question that has been submitted to me by several people. The JDRF is currently supporting research at a number of sites. Clinical studies are being performed at:

• The University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, CO - Dr. Peter Chase (Pediatric site)
• Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA - Dr. Bruce Buckingham (Pediatric site)
• The Sansum Diabetes Institute, Santa Barbara, CA - Dr. Lois Jovanovic
• The University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA - Dr. William Clarke (Pediatric site)
• Cambridge University, Cambridge, U.K. - Dr. David Dunger
• Oregon Health & Sciences University, Portland, OR - Dr. Kenneth Ward
• Boston University/Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA - Dr. Steven Russell
• Yale University, New Haven, CT - Dr. Stuart Weinzimer (Pediatric Site)
• University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France - Dr. Eric Renard
• University of Padova, Padova, Italy - Dr. Angelo Avogaro
• Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel, Petah Tikva, Israel - Dr. Moshe Phillip (Pediatric Site)

Much more information about this consortium including more detailed descriptions of the work each group is performing, publication references, and information about the sites can be found on the website of the consortium coordinating center - the Jaeb Center. The Jaeb Center is led by Dr. Roy Beck and facilitates and enhances the research at each of the clinical sites by supporting regulatory processes, clinical trial design, data collection and interpretation, and device (pump/sensor) integration into the studies among other things.

Each of these sites is currently enrolling patients for closed--loop studies (though many are limiting the number of patients they are enrolling). Each of the studies currently is performed at what we call the CRC--the Clinical Research Center--which is a controlled hospital-like environment. These studies are helping both the diabetes doctors and the algorithm developers optimize the approaches we plan to use when we move to less controlled outpatient (real world) studies. We hope that in the next 12 months the first outpatient studies will begin.

As you can see, the group that JDRF is funding consists of both pediatric and adult endocrinologists (note that the pediatric sites will sometimes see patients above 18 years of age). Children can participate in the artificial pancreas trials. Each site has descriptions of the eligibility criteria for their respective studies - that is, who can and can not participate.

This is an exciting time for closed-loop research. I suggest you take a look at the following video describing one artificial pancreas trial participant's experience. It is amazing! I also suggest you sign up for the JDRF Clinical Trials Connection. This is an easy way to learn about trials that you or your loved one may be eligible to participate in - artificial pancreas and across the spectrum of diabetes research.