Neuro Modulated Diabetes Control (NeuMeDic): Decoding the brain and neural pathways to achieve a better control of diabetes

糖尿病是一种由葡萄糖代谢过程中断导致血糖异常波动引起的疾病。传统上，控制包括外部胰岛素注射，以应对血糖升高，以取代胰腺中β细胞的作用，否则胰腺将在健康个体中发挥这一功能。然而，中枢神经系统（CNS）也通过控制胰腺分泌和胰岛素敏感性在葡萄糖稳态中起着至关重要的作用，这可能被用作加强葡萄糖控制的途径。在这种背景下，一个新兴的领域被称为生物电子医学，它依赖于对器官的神经信号的电调制，已经被引入作为使用药物的替代治疗。在这一新兴领域，本博士项目旨在研究通过生物电子医学与神经通路连接是否有潜在的好处，以获得对糖尿病患者血糖水平的更严格控制。更详细地说，这个博士项目旨在：1)了解体内健康和糖尿病状态下神经调节的生理基础（特别是在进餐时），2)首次研究体内调节这些神经信号对糖尿病管理的潜在好处，3)开发新的数学模型，包括现有的健康和糖尿病模拟器。这种新的糖尿病管理方法将对糖尿病患者的生活质量产生很大的影响。它将使糖尿病人自动保持更好的血糖控制，从而减少因解除管制而引起的并发症。它还将通过降低与该疾病相关的医疗费用（2012年美国为2450亿美元）来影响卫生保健服务。因此，拟议的博士学位将导致神经技术和糖尿病领域的重大科学贡献。该博士学位与EPSRC的几个研究领域一致，包括数学生物学和工程设计。

Diabetes is a disease caused by a breakdown in the glucose metabolic process resulting in abnormal blood glucose fluctuations. Traditionally, control has involved external insulin injection in response to elevated blood glucose to substitute the role of the beta cells in the pancreas, which would otherwise perform this function in a healthy individual. The central nervous system (CNS), however, also plays a vital role in glucose homoeostasis through the control of pancreatic secretion and insulin sensitivity which could potentially be used as a pathway for enhancing glucose control. Within this context, a novel emerging field called bioelectronic medicine, which relies on electrical modulation of the neural signals to the organs, has been introduced as an alternative treatment to using pharmaceuticals. Furthering this new emerging field, this PhD project aims at studying whether there is potential benefit of interfacing with the neural pathways through bioelectronic medicine for acquiring a tighter control of glucose levels in people with diabetes.In more detail, this PhD project aims at: i) understanding the physiological basis that underlie this neural regulation in the healthy and diabetic states in vivo (particularly during meals), ii) studying for the first time the potential benefits of modulating these neural signals in vivo for diabetes management and iii) developing novel mathematical models to be included in existing healthy and diabetes simulators. This new approach for diabetes management will have a great impact on the diabetic patients' quality of life. It will allow diabetic people to automatically maintain a better glucose control, leading to a reduction of the complications derived from its deregulation. It will also impact health care services by reducing the medical costs associated with this disease ($245 billion in US in 2012).Therefore, the proposed PhD will lead to major scientific contributions in the fields of Neurotechnology and Diabetes. This PhD is in alignment with several EPSRC research areas, including Mathematical Biology and Engineering Design.