Operations

👥 New DCB faces: We have continued to grow – six new team members joined DCB in 2023. All positions were successfully filled!

✅ Fully certified: The certification of the relevant processes for the DCB Management System according to ISO 9001 has been successfully renewed.

⛑️ Safety first: Studies were successfully conducted at the facility. There were no safety-related incidents.

Innovation & Business Development

🌐 Global Impact: Our team evaluated over 300 ideas, proposals, and applications, propelling the global innovation ecosystem forward. We identified and supported several dozen projects and startups, providing them with unparalleled expertise, access to our extensive network, cutting-edge facilities, and crucial funding.

🏆 DCB Open Innovation Challenge 2023: The DCB Open Innovation Challenge once again emerged as a beacon of success, attracting 66 applications from 23 different countries. Six exceptional projects from Ireland, France, Switzerland, South Africa, the US, and the UK took center stage, culminating in a thrilling Award Night attended by 270 enthusiasts from around the globe. We were thrilled to announce the winners of 2023 – Katharine Barnard-Kelly PhD with Spotlight-AQ in the category Digital Diabetes and Greta Preatoni with MYNERVA in Diabetes Devices.

🤝 Patient-Centric Partnership: In a groundbreaking move, we collaborated with the University Clinic for Diabetology, Endocrinology, Nutritional Medicine & Metabolism (UDEM) in Berne for a Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) event, aiming to enhance patient engagement in clinical trials and research. By joining forces, we are catalysing a paradigm shift in healthcare innovation, placing patients at the heart of progress!

🎓 Educational Endeavors: Empowering the next generation of innovators, we organised a Stanford Bio design summer school in collaboration with ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences. Students from diverse fields converged to explore and embrace innovation in diabetes technology, fostering a collaborative spirit that will undoubtedly shape the future of healthcare.

👥 Team Expansion: Adding to our strength, we’re thrilled to announce the growth of our team by welcoming two exceptional new colleagues, Ema Grabenweger and Hanne Ballhausen. Their passion and expertise amplify our commitment to driving innovation, making DCB’s Innovation Unit an even more dynamic hub of creativity.

Communications

👋 Growing our community: We’ve exceeded 3,000 (almost 3,500!) followers on LinkedIn and 500 followers on Instagram in 2023. We’re so excited our community is ever-growing and appreciate every single one of you, joining us on our journey of making life better for people with diabetes!

🗣️ Valuing Lived Experience: The people living with diabetes are at the core of all that we do at DCB. In 2023, we renamed our “Patient Leaders” to “Lived Experience Panel” to reflect this significance and help bring an end to diabetes stigma. We are so grateful for our continually growing community of Lived Experience Experts – currently 17 people in 14 different countries all over the world!

🔁 Team Switch: Former Digital Channels Manager Greta Ehlers moved on to the Business Development Team and handed over her legacy to Svea Krutisch, new Digital Communications Specialist. Greta continues to support the team in Corporate Design and Branding and we’re so happy to be bringing you the latest DCB news with joint forces!

Projects

💸 1st crowdfunding initiative successfully launched: The first project for the DCB crowdfunding initiative has been identified and coordinated. As the platform of choice, wemakeit.com took the lead. The first crowdfunding goal was achieved, and the learnings will be incorporated into the next iteration of the crowdfunding approach – you can still donate to the current one for the People’s Diabetes Foundation-Belize until Christmas!

📋 Expanding the “Diabetes Technology Report” to Switzerland: To gain a deeper understanding of current best practices, technology maturity levels, and unmet needs, the “DT-Report” team conducts a comprehensive survey annually. Diabetologists, people with diabetes (PwD), and diabetes nurses are given the opportunity to share their experiences with diabetes technology. The DCB team co-created the 2023 survey and initiated an outreach campaign across various channels to engage as many participants as possible in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The results will be meticulously analysed and shared with the community and can serve as a reliable foundation for future DCB activities.

📲 QARBS app successfully developed and merged with SNAQ: After two years of dedicated work and a lot of learnings, the DCB team together with Comerge AG as software developers we were able to file a product to the notified body, which fulfills the requirements of the applicable standards of medical device development and software development. In October, QARBS was successfully merged with SNAQ AG to continue its successful story with joint forces. The project started in early 2021 with the goal of developing an app that automatically calculates carbohydrates of a meal. The result must be as accurate to become the basis for the calculation of an insulin bolus dosing.

🎟️ The organisation of various local events at DCB has contributed to gaining more visibility in Switzerland and emphasising our ambition to raise awareness for our daily work.

Clinical & Data

🩸 Menstrual cycle project: On December 14, Tidepool and DCB launched the menstrual cycle project. The aim of this research collaboration project is to collect data on diabetes management among menstruating people with type 1 diabetes to evaluate changes in insulin sensitivity across the menstrual cycle.

🔬 Clinical Study VAARA successfully conducted: In collaboration with the University Clinic for Diabetology, Endocrinology, Nutritional Medicine & Metabolism (UDEM) in Berne, the study was the first clinical study to estimate associations between volatile organic compounds (VOCs) measured by the Sokru device prototype and blood glucose. The study results will support further development of the device prototype and has given some insights into the dynamics of VOCs during changes in blood glucose.

🔎 Clinical Study FibreGum on-going: Under the supervision of our assistant professor Maria Luisa Balmer , the FibreGum study is running at the Children Clinic Berne, assessing the effect of an additive in a chewing gum on body weight loss. 28 adolescents and young adults have been included so far.

📥 Clinical Study SPN-005 Started for Recruitment: At the University Clinic for Diabetology, Endocrinology, Nutritional Medicine & Metabolism (UDEM) in Berne, the study will assess the feasibility of a noninvasive medical device, developed by the company Spiden, to detect, and track glucose changes transcutaneously in defined and dynamic states of glycemia. 20 T1D adults will be included over 6 months.

🤝 Preparation for a Clinical Study with BOYDSense: The study will examine associations between glycaemic states such as stable (hypoglycaemia, euglycemia, and hyperglycaemia), increasing, and decreasing blood glucose, and the VOC (volatile organic compound) spectra in the breath measured with a Gas Chromatograph-Ion Mobility Spectrometer (GC-IMS) device as a reference and a portable device prototype to measure VOCs. The device prototype has been developed by BOYDSense with the purpose to allow blood glucose monitoring through non-invasive breath analyses.

📖 Contribution to publications: “Comparator Data Characteristics and Testing Procedures for the Clinical Performance Evaluation of Continuous Glucose Monitoring Systems” was accepted for publication in December 2023 in Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics.

🔒 Penetration Test Successful: In October 2023, we ran a penetration attempt on our IT environment, which was successful in the sense that the professional hackers could not enter the system.

Thank you, dear readers for your loyalty and interest throughout the year! We will continue to provide you with new series, inside stories and regular updates in 2024. All the best and happy holidays!🎄 🎆

Every year, we celebrate #DiabetesAwarenessMonth in November, with #WorldDiabetesDay on 14 November, the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting, who co-discovered insulin along with Charles Best in 1922.

This year, we had quite a few activities all throughout this significant month – from crowning the winners of our Open Innovation Challenge to launching our first crowdfunding campaign, renaming our Lived Experience Panel and far beyond. Read all about it here!

(Re-)Introducing our Lived Experience Panel

At DCB, people living with diabetes are at the core of all that we do. We highly value our experts living with diabetes and are committed to ending diabetes stigma in society, research and innovation. Because of this, we took Diabetes Awareness Month as an opportunity to rename our former “Patient Leaders”, initiated in 2021, to “Lived Experience Panel”! People living with diabetes are much more than just “patients” to us and we want to reflect this in the language we use:

LinkedIn Announcement

Our community is very important to us and we want to ensure that everything we do is person-centered and user-focused. Because of this, we took Diabetes Awareness Month as an opportunity to shine a spotlight on our Lived Experience Experts and ask them for their opinions and experiences:

What do you wish more people knew about life with diabetes?

If you could wish for a new product on the market, what would it be?

Why is it so important to end diabetes stigma?

Open Innovation Challenge

Our Open Innovation Challenge and the Start-Up Night on 9 November were at the core of our activities during Diabetes Awareness Month. We kicked the month off with our Innovation Bootcamp in the Swiss Alps and celebrated this year’s finalists and winners in Berne! You can read all about this year’s challenge in our last newsletter and in case you missed it, watch the highlight clip of our big Start-Up Night here:

Crowdfunding

During the Start-Up Night, we not only announced the winners of the Open Innovation Challenge – we also had some other exciting news: our first crowdfunding campaign was launched!

Until Christmas, you can still donate to it – all profits go to the People’s Diabetes Foundation-Belize. With only a small amount of money, you can make a big impact on the lives of people living with diabetes in Belize. The money will be used for life-saving diabetes supplies and will support the educational work of PDF-Belize, working hard to improve life with diabetes and remove the stigma around it:

Donate now and make a difference for people living with diabetes in Belize: https://wemakeit.com/projects/diabetes-supply-for-belize

WHO Global Diabetes Compact Forum

Just in time for Diabetes Awareness Month, we joined the World Health Organization Global Diabetes Compact Forum! On 2 November, the 5th meeting of the WHO Global Diabetes Compact Forum kicked off and Derek Brandt introduced us as a new member. We look forward to a long and fruitful collaboration – to make life better for people living with diabetes worldwide.

DT Report (German)

This year, we joined the German DT-Report – an annual report covering attitudes about diabetes technology. The survey is available for both people living with diabetes and doctors from the field. If you are from Switzerland, Austria or Germany, please consider participating to make a contribution to research:

DT Report (German)

To round up our activities of Diabetes Awareness Month, we want to point the spotlight back to the activities of our Lived Experience Experts, continuously advocating for a better life with diabetes in their free time:

• Lucía Feito Allonca is developing a Spanish-speaking international diabetes space, sharing news and information regarding projects, congresses, technologies, opportunities and much more: glucomundo.com
• Tinotenda Dzikiti is hosting a well-known diabetes advocacy podcast. In the name of community and inclusion, it was recently wrapped up under the name “Diabetic Mogul Podcast” and is being revamped as “Global Diabetes Insights” for 2024: LinkedIn announcement
• Leon Tribe is hosting a blog with accurate, impartial information for people with diabetes: https://practicaldiabetic.com/
• Crystal Diaz is the advocacy chair of Subtle Asian Diabetics, an online advocacy group for Asians with all types of diabetes to come together and encourage one another. Follow them on Instagram @subtleasiandiabetics and Facebook @subtleasiandiabetics!

Want to connect with them? Please have a look at our full list of Lived Experience Experts – continuously expanding: https://www.dcberne.com/en/community/

What a successful Diabetes Awareness Month it was – definitely one for the books! Thanks so much for reading and we’ll provide you with the next episode of this series soon.

This edition was authored by Svea Krutisch, Digital Communications Specialist at DCB.

The DCB Open Innovation Challenge

The DCB Open Innovation Challenge is an opportunity for anyone with an innovative solution to change diabetes management. It only takes an idea to participate for anyone – whether a healthcare professional, a start-up, a person living with diabetes or others. Those who share their ideas receive sparring and feedback from experts. It all culminates in the DCB Start-Up night, where we award the winners for both categories. The DCB Open Innovation Challenge award is one of the world’s most generous and renowned diabetes-related awards.

This year, incredible 66 ideas were submitted to the challenge, with three finalists in each category. These six finalists from the U.S., the U.K., Switzerland, Ireland, South Africa and France pitched their projects live on stage in Bern in front of 300 guests and an international jury, who then chose the winner of each category.

But how exactly did we get here and what did the DCB Open Innovation Challenge look like? Read all about the journey below.

Our Top 20 in the Categories “Diabetes Devices” and “Digital Diabetes”

Before we were able to select our top 3 in each category to travel to our bootcamp and the much-anticipated DCB Start-Up Night, we selected our Top 20 per category:

Top 20 Diabetes Devices

Top 20 Digital Diabetes

The Top 20 of each category received mentoring from chosen experts of our network on various topics, ranging from co-creation experts to regulatory specialists. Additionally, we hosted a Pitch Training session before their big Pitch Day, where they could network and learn from our experts as well as their peers about how to improve their pitch and convince our jury. 

The Innovation Bootcamp – 4 intense days of learning and networking in the Swiss Alps 

To get ready for the DCB Start-Up Night with pitches and winners’ celebrations, we took all six finalists to a bootcamp in the Swiss Alps. Over the course of four days, we spent our time 1300 meters above sea level with a stunning view and mentoring, pitch training, 1:1 coaching, filming image videos (which were played during the Start-Up Night and we can’t wait to show you soon here on LinkedIn!) and of course, with many fruitful discussions and lots of networking.

But see for yourself! Our friends at Newsroom Communication were with us every step of the way and prepared a highlight clip to give you a glimpse behind the scenes:

The Winners of 2023

On November 9, this year’s DCB Start-Up Night and Award Ceremony of the Open Innovation Challenge 2023 took place. After an exciting evening of pitching, an international jury chose the winners of the third edition of the Open Innovation ChallengeThe first prizes of 100.000 USD in funding and in-kind support each went to MYNERVA (Switzerland) in the category Diabetes Devices and to Spotlight-AQ (U.K.) in the category Digital Diabetes.

MYNERVA, winner of the category Diabetes Devices, is developing a unique wearable device for people living with diabetic neuropathy. The device restores the sense of touch and decreases pain through a non-invasive electrical nerve stimulation driven by AI algorithms.

In her pitch, CEO Greta Preatoni emphasised the impact this can have on people’s quality of live, giving them back the ability to walk with more ease and without pain. After winning first place for Diabetes Devices, she shared:

“This was an amazing experience which brought us not only the win, but so many opportunities for development in the future. We are already thinking about how to implement not only the money that comes with the prize, but also the network that comes with it.”

Spotlight-AQ, winner of the category Digital Diabetes, is on a mission to improve routine visits by helping people with diabetes to feel heard and doctors feel empowered to care. It is a novel validated infographic assessment platform highlighting user priority concerns and immediate mapped resources to meet those unmet needs.

In her pitch, CSO Katharine Barnard-Kelly PhD emphasised the role this can play within the constraints of existing healthcare systems and structures, benefiting people with diabetes, while reducing burnout among treating physicians.  After winning first place for Digital Diabetes, she shared:

“Winning the DCB Open Innovation Challenge means everything to us! We were really surprised, we are thrilled and it is vindication for the fact that psychosocial aspects of diabetes are so important and can be delivered in routine care.”

While the winners of the challenge received 100,000 USD in funding and in-kind support, the four remaining finalists – Fada Medical, ECLYPIA, Gluroo Imaginations Inc. and Africa Diabetes Chat (by Sweet Life Diabetes Community) – received 20.000 USD each, consisting of 10.000 USD in funding and 10.000 USD in-kind support.

It’s been a wonderful few months with the cohort of this year’s DCB Open Innovation Challenge and we are already eagerly awaiting next year’s! As Katharine Barnard, winner of the category Digital Diabetes put it:

“My experience with the DCB Open Innovation Challenge was exciting, intense, terrifying and just so much fun! It’s been an absolute blast and I’ve learnt so much.”

Now it’s your turn – it’s never too early to start brainstorming ideas for the next challenge. We’re excited to see what you come up with!”

Thanks so much for reading and we’ll provide you with the next episode of this series soon!

This edition was authored by Svea Krutisch, Digital Communications Specialist at DCB.

“We are laying the foundation for innovative therapies in diabetes.”

Maria Luisa Balmer has been an assistant professor at the University of Bern and University Hospital of Bern and at the DCB (Diabetes Center Berne) since 2021. Together with her team, she researches the complex pathologically altered bodily functions (pathophysiology) and connections between the intestinal flora, metabolism and inflammation. 

Prof. Dr. Balmer, what is your research about? 

We want to understand in more detail how the gut microbiota contributes to people becoming obese, or not. The gut microbiota refers to a group of tiny organisms, mainly bacteria, that live in our gut and play an important role in digestion and health. We are interested in the following questions: Which bacteria are beneficial? Which ones are more likely to contribute to the development of obesity (severe overweight, from body mass index 30) and the associated complications such as diabetes or liver disease? And why is this so? Are there certain metabolic products with which the intestinal bacteria influence our metabolism? These are all questions that occupy us in the team and which we approach in very different ways.

What motivates you to work in the field of obesity and diabetes?  

Obesity and type 2 diabetes have become a pandemic that is spreading ever faster. Whereas in the past it was mainly the industrialised nations that were affected, today it is also affecting countries that previously had to struggle with the opposite, namely malnutrition and underweight. I am also concerned that more and more children and adolescents are affected by obesity. Despite many efforts in the area of prevention and therapy, there are more and more overweight people, with the corresponding health consequences. 

What is your biggest challenge as a professor?

As a researcher, doctor and mother of two children, my everyday life is incredibly varied, diverse and occasionally a little chaotic. I find the balancing act between all my different activities very challenging, but at the same time enriching. The biggest challenge is probably not to miss out myself.  

Prof. Dr. Maria Luisa Balmer. Photo: Sina Lou Ravasio

What goals do you want to achieve with your team and your laboratory, the TrIm-Lab (Translational Immunometabolism Lab)? 

My goal with my research is to contribute to a better understanding of the mechanistic connections between the gut microbiota and the development of obesity and metabolic complications, and thus to gain new approaches to prevention and therapy. At the same time, it is important to me to be a role model for the next generation of young scientists and to show that becoming a professor is a realistic goal, even for people who have other priorities in life, such as a family.  

What projects are you currently researching and how can they make life easier for people with diabetes? 

Our research is incredibly broad – from mouse experiments to clinical trials. For example, we work with mice in which we can precisely control the composition of the intestinal bacteria and thus find out which bacteria contribute to the development of obesity. On the other hand, we are currently running a clinical trial called FibreGum with obese children and adolescents, in which we are testing a special chewing gum that contains dietary fibres. We hope that this will have a favourable influence on the composition of the intestinal microbiota and that we will be able to support the children in losing weight in a low-threshold way.

How do you work with the DCB? 

My research laboratory and my office are located at the DCB and I very much appreciate the fruitful collaboration. In addition to the infrastructure, the DCB also actively supports us in conducting clinical trials. The familiar and friendly environment is inspiring and a prerequisite for successful research.  

Where do you hope your field of research will be in 5-10 years? What is your vision? 

I hope that we will understand more precisely how bacterial metabolism integrates with human metabolism and that this knowledge will benefit our patients in a personalised form. My vision is to fight diseases like obesity and diabetes, not only in the rich industrialised nations, but worldwide.  
 

You recently received the Marie Heim-Vöglin Prize, awarded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). What pleased you most about this award? 

For me, this prize is primarily a huge recognition, which of course makes me incredibly happy. It is wonderful that my research has met with such broad interest and that it has now found its way into the public eye through this prize. The response has been incredible and has touched me very much. I hope that this will motivate many young researchers to continue on their path.  I will also continue my efforts to contribute to the fight against diseases such as obesity and diabetes. 

About Maria Balmer 

Maria Luisa Balmer is SNSF professor and research group leader at the University and Inselspital Bern. With her team at the DCB, she researches the connection between the microbiota, metabolism and the immune system in the context of obesity and diabetes. She is a specialist in general internal medicine and works in the osteometabolic consultation at the University Clinic for Endocrinology and Diabetology in Bern. Her goal is to fundamentally research the mechanisms and consequences of obesity and diabetes and thereby lay the foundation for innovative therapies.  In addition, Maria Luisa Balmer is the winner of the Marie Heim-Vögtlin Prize 2023, awarded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) for her research on intestinal bacteria and their role in the development of diabetes and morbid obesity. 

Thanks so much for reading and we’ll provide you with the next episode of this series soon!

This edition was authored by Sunjoy Mathieu, Communication Manager at DCB.

From sunny mornings to windy afternoons and rainy nights – our DCB activities at EASD were just as versatile as Northern German weather in early October. However, unlike the ever-changing German weather, our activities and services all boil down to one goal: To bridge the gap between research, industry and those living with diabetes. Scroll below to get a glimpse into what that looked like at EASD! 

DCB in the Innovation Zone 

We were proud to introduce our very first DCB Innovation Booth at EASD. Located right under the sign for the “Innovation Zone” of the Industry Exhibition, we hosted a space for our start-ups and anyone who was interested in our activities and services. We were very happy to see many of our supported start-ups on-site and be able to provide them with a meeting point for discussions, potential deals and coffee breaks. 

DCB Dinner @ Hensslers Küche 

We have been hosting dinners at the major EASD and ATTD conferences for two years now. Our objective for these dinners reflects our vision and mission: To make life better for people with diabetes, by bridging the gap between industry, research, start-ups and people living with diabetes. We all know that sometimes, the best deals are made over good food and drinks!  

This year, we were honored to host it at Hensslers Küche in the heart of Hamburg – with live cooking and lots of delicious sushi, many important conversations were had which may or may not have led to new ideas and business deals. 

#NothingAboutUsWithoutUs: DCB Patient Leaders at EASD 

At DCB, we are happy to have established an international and ever-growing community of people living with diabetes all over the world. Two of our patient leaders – Laura Burlando from Switzerland and Lea Raak from Germany – also attended EASD and stopped by our innovation booth. In the end, we can only fuel knowledge and truly make an impact if we give all parties a seat at the table. Or in this case: at the innovation booth. 

EASD Topics: New Technologies, Mental Health & Lived Experience 

Among the many important topics discussed at EASD – from islet cell transplants to new insulin pump technologies and the impact of mental health – we were excited to be involved in one topic specifically: the importance of including perspectives of lived experience in research and product development. Dr. Katarina Braune, member of our DCB Open Innovation Challenge jury and long-time DCB affiliate, presented results of the DIWHY study conducted within the OPEN project of which we were a consortium member – providing insights into the motivations of people living with diabetes to start on Automated Insulin Delivery systems and their feedback on such. Even though research and product development are moving more and more towards participatory processes, the outcome often still disappoints those living with diabetes and using the technologies. 

We were delighted to see lived experience and the topics of unmet needs, stigmatisation and the different perspectives of all moving parts of the healthcare system represented in many sessions – among others those of #dedoc°, International Diabetes Federation Europe and diaTribe.  

We at DCB thank all researchers, industry professionals, entrepreneurs and people living with diabetes who continue to speak on these intersectional topics vital for technology innovation. We had a great time with all of you and we are looking forward to the next conference already! 

Thanks so much for reading and we’ll provide you with the next episode of this series soon!  

This edition was authored by Svea Krutisch, Digital Communications Specialist at DCB. 

Patient and public involvement is defined as “research done with or by patients and the public, not to, about or for them. It is about working collaboratively with patients and the public and sharing decision-making” [1]. It is not only about engaging the public to focus on awareness, nor is it about having patients merely participate in clinical studies.  

At DCB, we aim to involve people living with diabetes at every step of the way and in all our processes – whether that be in the mentoring of our annual DCB Open Innovation Challenge, in our clinical research studies or in other decision processes. 

PPI offers various benefits for researchers and companies. Most importantly, people living with a condition often know best which topics from their life remain under-researched and under-represented. Especially for translational research, which focuses on transferring scientific research into innovative product development, it can also uncover unmet needs that still need solutions. Altogether, involving those living with a condition in research processes can result in more impact overall. 

DCB Patient Leaders

As part of our efforts to involve the diabetes community in our decisions and activities, we established a board of DCB patient leaders roughly two years ago. Our patient leaders represent lived diabetes experience in different parts of the world – from Switzerland all the way to Singapore. We greatly value the voices of those living with diabetes and believe that all processes should involve those with lived experience. Because after all, research and product development is being done because of and for those living with diabetes! To make it truly user-centric and impactful, we need to properly involve those with a sound judgment and lived experience of it. 

Patient and Public Involvement Event at DCB

Just recently, we hosted an event for patient and public involvement at our premises in Berne. In cooperation with the University of Bern and the Department of Diabetes, Endocrinology, Nutritional Medicine and Metabolism (UDEM) at the University Hospital of Bern, we invited participants of our past research studies, people living with diabetes, researchers and the DCB team. Together, we all discussed past study outcomes as well as visions for future patient and public involvement.  

 We live and breathe patient and public involvement at DCB and we are always on the hunt for new innovative methods and activities. If you are interested or want to contribute your thoughts, please don’t hesitate to reach out and get involved with us!  

Thanks so much for reading and we’ll provide you with the next episode of this series soon!  

[1] What is patient and public involvement?  NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre. https://oxfordbrc.nihr.ac.uk/ppi/ppi-researcher-guidance/what-is-patient-and-public-involvement/