Introduction to this Blog

This is sample email that I send out from time to time to introduce this blog to new readers.

I keep track of all the potential cures for type-1 diabetes that are in human trials, or will be soon. I've done this for years. When my daughter was first diagnosed with type-1 diabetes, I spent time reading news accounts of various "cures" that various researchers were working on. As with a lot of other people on brave buddies emailing list, I quickly became frustrated by the difference between the incredibly optimistic news stories and the lack of useful results.

My blog, which you can read here:
http://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com/
is my personal attempt to provide more informed news about possible type-1 cures.

In general I only follow research which might lead to a cure for type-1 diabetes. There is lots of research into better insulin and treatments for various side effects, and lots of people follow that research, but I choose to focus just on a cure. Also, I only follow research which is being tested on people right now (called "clinical trials"). So I don't cover animal research.

These restrictions mean that I'm usually only following 15 to 25 lines of research at any given time, so I can keep pretty good track of them all. I also (occasionally, and as time permits) write up longer summaries of research issues in type-1 diabetes.

For the research that I cover, I try not to be a "news clipping service". I do not just copy a press release or news article (especially not the shallow ones that are just rephrased press releases themselves!) I view all press releases and most news articles (including blogs articles, and forum posts, etc.) as having three huge flaws. First, they only include good news; only what the researchers want you to know. Second they only include information on one treatment; the one that group of researchers are working on. And third, they have no historical context to the news they report.

So in my blog and web site, for each piece of news I report, I try to include these things:
  • Both the good and the bad points
  • A realistic guess at how long it will take to finish testing and become available.
  • Comparisons with other lines of research.
  • Historical context of the line of research.
  • Links where you can learn more details, if you want to.
The blog is organized most recent posting on top, so it is easy to read to go back in time. I do try hard to have useful tags. If you are interested in one line of research, then I urge you to look at my tag list (right side of the blog) and click on the tags you are interested in. The web site is organized by line of research, so it is easy to see what the different researchers are doing, and the timeline of their progress.

Here are some web pages associated with my blog, that I think are particularly useful:


Here are some of my blog posts that you might want to start out with (as general background):

I'm always on the lookout for lines of research that are new to me. So if you hear about any research aimed a curing type-1, which is being tested on people, or soon will be, then please tell me about it! Finally, many of my best posts are written in response to specific questions that people have emailed me, so please do email questions that you have about research into a cure for type-1 diabetes.

Joshua Levy