UVA professor honored for artificial pancreas invention
UVA School of Medicine professor Marc Breton has been awarded the university’s 2022 Edlich-Henderson Innovator of the Year for his role in developing an artificial pancreas, which now helps thousands of people around the world who have Type 1 diabetes.
After receiving a Ph.D. in systems engineering from UVA in 2004, Breton, a native of France, helped create the first simulation environment accepted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a replacement for animal studies in pre-clinical assessment of insulin treatment. This paved the way for him and his UVA Center for Diabetes Technology colleagues to develop an artificial pancreas system, which consists of a continuous glucose sensor on the skin and an insulin pump. The system is programmed with an algorithm that monitors and automatically regulates patients’ glucose levels.
“Our little algorithm is now probably in 400,000 devices around the world, controlling the insulin of 400,000 people from the age of 2 to 98 years old,” Breton said in a press release. “That’s incredibly special, because I had the opportunity to meet many of these people and hear how this work has impacted their lives. That has been an incredible high.”
An associate professor of psychiatry and neurobehavioral sciences and associate research director for the Center for Diabetes Technology, Breton has also helped develop an algorithm for the precise estimation of hemoglobin A1C, a key indicator of long-term glucose control. The algorithm was implemented into the first commercial blood glucose monitoring device, MyStar Extra.
In 2016, Breton cofounded TypeZero Technologies, which offers personalized diabetes management solutions. DexCom Inc., a leader in continuous glucose monitoring for people with diabetes, purchased the TypeZero for $11.3 million in 2018.
Since 2007, Breton has submitted 55 invention disclosures to the UVA Licensing & Ventures Group. He is currently a named inventor on 27 issued U.S. patents.
Unite the Right participant dies in apparent suicide
More than five years after participating in the deadly Unite the Right rally, white supremacist Teddy Joseph Von Nukem is dead.
On January 30, 35-year-old Von Nukem—who faced federal drug trafficking charges—died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a hay shed at his Missouri home, the same day he failed to show up for a court hearing, local journalist Molly Conger reported. In 2021, the white supremacist, who was photographed wielding a tiki torch at the infamous August 11 rally, was arrested when he tried to enter Arizona from Mexico, and Customs and Border Protection officers found 33 pounds of fentanyl pills hidden in his car. Von Nukem, a member of the neo-Nazi Traditionalist Worker Party, claimed he was paid 4,000 Mexican pesos (around $215) to smuggle the drugs, but did not know they were fentanyl, per court records.
Piecing together videos and photos from the August 12 rally, Conger identified Von Nukem as one of the white supremacists who brutally assaulted DeAndre Harris, a Black man, inside the Market Street parking garage. In text messages sent to white supremacist Christopher Cantwell, Von Nukem bragged about beating a Black person with a baton in a garage. (Von Nukem was never charged in relation to the incident.)
Von Nukem is survived by his wife and five children, according to his obituary.
In brief
Shots fired
On February 15, the Albemarle County Police Department responded to a shots fired report at around 11:30am in the 200 block of Wahoo Way at the Cavalier Crossing apartment complex. Officers discovered a juvenile who had been injured during the incident, which involved a drug deal. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Garrett Moore at 296-5807. On February 18, Charlottesville and University of Virginia police responded to a shooting at around 8:49pm in the 400 block of 10th Street. A man who had been shot in the hand could not describe the suspect, but said the person drove a cream-colored car, reports The Daily Progress. Anyone with information can contact the CPD at 970-3280.
BOS bids
After four terms on the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, Democrat Ann Mallek is vying for the White Hall District seat for the final time. Mallek is currently running unopposed. Democrat Bea LaPisto-Kirtley, who represents the Rivanna District, has also launched her re-election campaign, and is running against independent David Rhodes. Democrat Mike Pruitt has made a bid for the Scottsville seat.
Corner Canes
A second Raising Cane’s is (finally) coming to Charlottesville. Signs advertising the popular chicken spot recently appeared in the windows of the former Sheetz on the UVA Corner, according to a photo posted on Reddit. The “coming soon” sign says the new location is now hiring, but it remains unclear when it will open—or if it will do anything to shorten the eatery’s infamous Route 29 drive-thru line.
Trans survey
The University of Virginia and state health department are looking for transgender and gender non-conforming individuals to participate in a survey regarding the health and wellness needs of the transgender and gender non-conforming community in Virginia. Participants will receive a $50 Target or Walmart gift card. To complete a survey interest form, visit here.