Updates | Joslin Pediatric Diabetes Research

Research studies that are now recruiting:

The CHEF Study: Cultivating Healthy Environments in Families with Type 1 Diabetes

Description: The CHEF study will explore how family lifestyle behaviors, such as healthy eating and exercise, affect diabetes management in children and teens with type 1 diabetes. The study involves 14 family visits, either in person or by phone, and 2 group sessions over an 18-month period. Many of the visits will be on the same days as regular clinic appointments, but some visits will occur between appointments. Families in the intervention group will receive educational information about healthy eating. Families in the usual care group will receive this information at the end of the study. The study also includes completion of surveys and 3-day food records by youth and parents and blood draws for youth. Youth will also wear a masked continuous glucose monitor for 3 days at a time, every 3 months.
Recruiting: Youth with type 1 diabetes receiving care at Joslin, ages 8-16 years, and their parents or legal guardians

Contact: Brittany Ryan at 617-309-4523 or brittany.ryan@joslin.harvard.edu

The Tolerance Study

Description: This study is trying to help us better understand what causes type 1 diabetes to help find new ways to prevent or reverse the disease. The study is being done with researchers at Harvard Medical School and is funded by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. The study visit includes the completion of questionnaires and a blood draw. Recruiting: Individuals, ages 18 years and older, both with and without type 1 diabetes

Contact: Roxanne Phillips at 617-309-2481 or roxanne.phillips@joslin.harvard.edu

The Natural History Study — TrialNet

Description: This study aims to identify youth and adults at risk for type 1 diabetes by testing for diabetes-related antibodies in relatives of people with type 1 diabetes. It involves a single blood test. People who test positive will be eligible for further testing and may be eligible to participate in prevention trials. Recruiting: Parents, children, & siblings, ages 1-45, and cousins, grandchildren, nieces, & nephews, ages 1-20, of people with type 1 diabetes

Contact: Heyam Jalahej at 617-309-2524 or heyam.jalahej@joslin.harvard.edu

Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Injections in Recent-Onset Type 1 Diabetes

This study is looking to see if 12 intravenous infusions of a protein called alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) will help people with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes continue to make some of their own insulin. In this study, the investigators are looking at the progression of diabetes in people who receive AAT infusions compared to those who get placebo infusions (infusions that look the same but have no AAT). The study involves 22 visits over 2 years. Recruiting: Age 8-35, diagnosed within 3 months prior to the first infusion.  

Please contact Hui H Zhang, RN, Ph.D at 617-309-4739 or email Hui.Zhang@joslin.harvard.edu for more information (CHS #2010-18).

What has the pediatric research team been up to?

Dr. Mehta was the first author on an article published in Current Diabetes Practice entitled “Insulin Therapy in Pediatric Type 1 Diabetes.”  In the article, Dr. Mehta provides an overview of insulin regimens and initiating insulin therapy in youth with type 1 diabetes.

This past November, Dr. Laffel wrote an editorial for the Journal of Pediatrics on exercise and type 1 diabetes. The article was entitled, “Exercise: It Isn’t Just Child’s Play When it Comes to Managing Type 1 Diabetes.” Dr. Laffel discusses opportunities to exercise successfully in the setting of type 1 diabetes. She also reviews the benefits of exercise. The article discusses the complexities involved in managing blood glucose fluctuations during and after exercise in order to avoid hypoglycemia (low blood glucose) both during and after the exercise, especially overnight.

There are many excellent approaches to reducing the risk of severe low glucose levels while also avoiding high glucose levels. Speak to your diabetes health care team or consider meeting with one of Joslin's exercise physiologists to review healthy and safe approaches for exercise so that exercise can be child's play!