JDRF - Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

Now that the holiday season is over, it’s a good opportunity to reflect on what Christmas means to the type 1 diabetes community.

For many type 1 diabetes families, Christmas and the holiday season can be a real challenge as well as a joy. Christmas celebrations are often built around lavish meals, sweets in the Christmas stocking, and lollies and chocolates in bon bons, and can be a challenge for many parents trying to maintain their child’s glucose levels.

But beyond these challenges, Christmas also brings with it renewal of hope. Lavinia, one of the young members of the JDRF community shares with us part of her wishlist to Santa for Christmas last year.

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The 2012 Ride to Cure Diabetes, held on Saturday 14th January, was an outstanding success, raising an amazing $1 million allowing JDRF to support vital medical research to improve the lives of those living with type 1 diabetes. The Ride to Cure Diabetes allows Riders to challenge themselves on one of three professionally run courses of 35km, 80km or 160km through the stunning Barossa Valley.

JDRF would like to congratulate all 303 Riders who battled against the strong wind to complete their chosen course. A special mention goes to Spiderman (otherwise known as Alex Halliday) who choose to wear the suit for the entire 160km as a fundraising incentive, and to one of our youngest Riders Braden McLeod of Team Whyalla who let Rufus lead the way.

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A JDRF-funded clinical trial by researchers in America and China has used stem cells from umbilical cord blood to ‘re-educate’ the immune cells that cause type 1 diabetes.

By targeting the autoimmune response that attacks beta cells in type 1 diabetes, researchers aimed to improve beta cell function in people with the disease and enable them to resume insulin production.

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If you’ve been following us on Facebook and Twitter, you will have seen our promotion of the Brisbane Heat cricket games in the T20 Big Bash League.

JDRF is the official charity partner of the Brisbane Heat throughout the duration of the league. This partnership has been instrumental in allowing JDRF to promote our new logo and the importance of type 1 diabetes research to a wider audience.

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Did you know about the changes to Australian Government private health insurance legislation?

As of the end of 2011, insulin pumps have been moved to the new Section C of the Australian Government Prostheses List, guaranteeing its permanent place on the list. Section C is designed to include non-surgically implanted devices like insulin pumps that have an internal part which is essential to its effectiveness.

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JDRF-funded Australian researchers have identified a simple cellular compound that may be able to prevent onset of type 1 diabetes by preventing or reducing the death of insulin-producing cells.

Researchers from the Australian National University have identified heparan sulfate (HS) as being essential for beta cell survival. Whilst this compound is known to be involved in a number of other biological activities, this is the first time it has been implicated in the development of type 1 diabetes.

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Bambi Northwood-Blyth is flying the flag for Australians with type 1 diabetes making it big on the world stage. Bambi has recently modelled for large Europe fashion houses like Balenciaga and Chanel, and has been the cover girl for magazines like Harper’s Bazaar.

Bambi has received support from JDRF since her diagnosis with type 1 diabetes at the age of 12. Today, she shares some of her experiences with the JDRF community! Read more...

Something has changed at JDRF!

We’re still dedicated to improving the lives of the 122,300 Australians with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and our mission remains unchanged – to find a cure for type 1 diabetes and its complications through the support of research. We continue to increase support for research to improve management and control of T1D and delivering new and better treatments and prevention of the common complications of T1D.

This essential work of JDRF is now supported by a new logo, which will be adopted by JDRF chapters across the world. This new logo better demonstrates our energetic dedication to a better life for people with T1D and, ultimately a cure. Read more...

With one month to go until the 2012 Apia Sydney International, one winner is already clear. For the fifth year running, JDRF is the charity of choice for the Sydney Tennis International.

The tournament will feature Australian Grand Slam champions Samantha Stosur and Lleyton Hewitt. The rest outstanding lineup includes eight Grand Slamp champions, four current or former World No.1’s, and four previous Sydney winners – it is bound to be a star-studded event!

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JDRF-funded American researchers have created the first three dimensional cellular videos showing what happens to cells in the pancreas as type 1 diabetes develops. The videos show T cells (purple) attacking and destroying beta cells (green) – eventually leading to type 1 diabetes.

Some of the interesting insights gained include:

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