“As a Type 1 Diabetic for nearly 30 years, I support Diabetes Research Connection’s innovative and transparent method of directly funding researchers whose novel approaches may lead to a reduction of complications and the holy grail: a cure”.

“At DRC we ensure that all research projects we advance for potential funding have received rigorous review by independent experts.  Your support goes to the brightest and best young scientists who are committed to finding a cure for diabetes”.

“Entering my fourth decade of Type 1 Diabetes research, it is quite remarkable to look back and see how research seeking to identify answers to the questions of how this disease develops and how the disorder could be cured have changed. No one could have envisioned the difficulty of obtaining research funding, especially for young people. For these reasons, I believe the mission of the Diabetes Research Connection is vital! It offers hope for the future of both those with Type 1 Diabetes and young investigators committed to making a major change possible. I fully support DRC and am committed to seeing it prosper.”

“There is a need for increased collaborative efforts to eradicate diabetes. We need to invest in young scientists with new and fresh ideas who are willing to dedicate their careers to studying diabetes. Federal funding for young investigators in basic research is getting harder to acquire, so private funding is critical to invest in novel ideas to help young scientists in their quest for the cure.”

“The Diabetes Research Connection will advance the efforts of early-career scientists whose innovative proposals for diabetes investigations might be overlooked by government funding agencies in favor of more conventional research.”

“We support the Diabetes Research Connection because it affords us the rare opportunity to select the research that we believe in and to better understand it by interacting with the very scientists who will DO the research.”

“Several of my family members have or had diabetes. I have lived with T1D for over 50 years. I am committed to ensuring that the Diabetes Research Connection becomes one of the most significant forces funding innovative diabetes research that will rid the planet of this disease and its complications.”

“The Diabetes Research Connection is a powerful breeding ground for new ideas in T1D research in the context of a supportive and enthusiastic community of donors.”

“I love the concept behind this website and organization: funding young scientists to pursue new, but fully vetted ideas in Type 1 Diabetes research. We need to continue to feed the developmental pipeline for research scientists and ideas in Type 1. I love the idea of choosing where (to whom) my money goes and hearing directly from them.”

“This is a fantastic new method for funding scientific endeavors and represents a paradigm shift for supporting innovative basic diabetes research. The Diabetes Research Connection will expedite the discovery process and ensure funding for the next generation of promising young researchers, leading to discoveries and ways in which to prevent and cure Type 1 Diabetes.”

“I am passionate about User Experience and developing technologies that create meaningful communities that are focused on making a difference. So I am thrilled at this groundbreaking effort to revolutionize how we fund diabetes research. Most important to me is the effort to bridge the gap between scientists and supporters to cultivate a community of connection. The Diabetes Research Connection aspires to create a community of compassion and care that will lead us to the cure. It will revolutionize the link between the champions that are supporting our fight for the cure and the researchers that are waging our war for progress.”

The Diabetes Research Connection is a tremendous new way to fund brilliant young research investigators in the early stages of their careers — when they need our support the most. These fresh, innovative minds will spearhead scientific discoveries and will ensure that we have a robust diabetes drug/device pipeline for years to come. I applaud the founders of DRC for creating this important new resource that empowers donors to fund researchers directly, and for offering transparency to the entire funding process.

“DRC fills a void in our Type 1 Diabetes funding scheme – it allows for postdoctoral and early investigators to get their ideas out to the interested public and to provide much-needed funds for this next generation researcher to conduct their important studies.”

In this time of funding difficulty, the Diabetes Research Connection is a novel way to obtain funding and a great way for scientists to communicate their exciting ideas with the public. Scientists need to branch out and explore new funding mechanisms.

“It was a pleasure working with the Diabetes Research Connection. This was one of the fastest reviews! I thank the Diabetes Research Connection for their support, reviews, and feedback. The comments on the pre-proposal were very helpful in refining and clarifying my thoughts and experimental plan, and input provided by the Layperson Committee on my video helped me produce something with a much stronger chance of attracting potential donors. I am delighted to have received this opportunity.”

“Thanks to the Diabetes Research Connection, I was able to undertake my investigation, ‘Can we engineer a patient’s immune cells to stop the autoimmune attack that causes Type 1 Diabetes?’ The Brusko lab is incredibly grateful for the $50,000 we received to drive this exciting research project forward.”