On Friday, April 17, 2009, fifteen JDRF Mississippi Chapter Staff and Volunteers participated in our inaugural Board/VIP Bus Trip. We began our day at the JDRF Office where we boarded our bus and headed to Starkville.
During the outbound trip, Dr. Marshall Bouldin led a discussion of “The Diabetic Epidemic – What it Means Today and Tomorrow.” Dr. Bouldin emphasized that the costs associated with treating the projected cases of diabetes could cripple our healthcare system. There was an in depth explanation of how the results of type 1 research and JDRF’s research in particular drive all treatments and therapies for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. For example, the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial, a major type 1 clinical study conducted from 1983 to 1993, showed that keeping blood glucose levels as close to normal as possible slows the onset and progression of the eye, kidney, and nerve damage caused by diabetes. The findings of this study have important implications for preventing diabetes complications in people with type 2 diabetes because the microvascular disease development process is likely to be similar for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Additionally, JDRF’s extensive role in developing Continuous Glucose Monitoring systems will benefit type 2 patients as these devices will likely ultimately be used in the treatment of type 2. According to Dr. Bouldin, the big take away for JDRF supporters is that not only will our research in the complications cure therapeutic area benefit type 2 patients, JDRF’s leadership in type 1 research will result in treatment and therapies that will be widely utilized to treat type 2 diabetes. This is an important distinction for us to remember as we promote JDRF’s work and events in the local community.
Following Dr. Bouldin’s presentation, we watched the JDRF Winter Research Briefing given by Dick Insel, MD, via DVD. Dr. Insel is JDRF’s Senior Vice President of Research. The briefing highlighted progress in each of JDRF’s Five Cure Therapeutic areas. Cards listing the therapeutic goals were distributed to all in attendance. For a copy of the therapeutic goal “cheat sheet” card, please email Crystal Apostle at capostle@jdrf.org.
Next, Michelle Colon went over our upcoming events and asked for everybody’s support and attendance where possible. Before we knew it, we were in front of Simrall Hall, home of Mississippi State University’s James Worth Bagley College of Engineering. We were greeted by Dr. Erdem Topsakal, Associate Professor of Engineering. Dr. Topsakal recently completed a JDRF Funded Grant entitled “Implantable Antenna Sensors for Continuous Glucose Monitoring.” Dr. Topsakal provided an extensive briefing on this project at our September Board Meeting and the purpose of the Bus Trip was to get a first hand tour of his lab. Lunch was hosted by Dr. Nick Younan, Professor and Interim Department Head and included a presentation on the College and its many accomplishments.
Following lunch, we toured the Mississippi State University High Voltage Laboratory (HVL). The HVL, located in the Simrall Building, is the largest independent high voltage laboratory in the U.S. It provides an environment for an academic program as well as meeting the research and product evaluation requirements for industry. We then had a chance to see a lab room under construction. When completed this room will buffer electromagnetic waves to provide pure air space in which to test many types of antennas. Finally, we visited Dr. Topsakal’s lab and had a chance to view his processes and equipment. A highlight of this stop was the chance to view simulations he created out of normal baking items that have the electrical properties of human muscle, fat and skin. These simulations facilitate necessary testing of devices as this can’t be done on people. In addition to his medical research to benefit people with diabetes, Dr. Topsakal is working on possible applications for electromagnetics and antennas in the areas of breast cancer tumor detection and hypertension. Bringing medical research to the College of Engineering is an innovative and admirable endeavor. This self described “crazy guy from Turkey” will become a U.S. citizen on May 1, 2009. He is doing a great job of increasing MSU’s competitive position in the engineering field.
Dr. Topsakal gave us a quick tour of the campus from our bus and then we headed back to Jackson. We had our April Board Meeting on the bus and played a very fun game of JDRF trivia. Many thanks to Entergy for sponsoring the bus and supplying great snacks, to Mississippi State University for hosting lunch and tours for us, and to Dr. Marshall Bouldin for his informative talk.
