I am a 21 year old male, and was diagnosed with neonatal diabetes a few hours after birth. I take insulin and have since day one. I was wondering if I could volunteer myself for research of some sort, or maybe for research purposes. I am not sure which type of neonatal diabetic I am, but I have been taking insulin since my first day in the world.

You would be a more appealing research subject if you were 21 years younger or, better still, a mouse, which is really saying that the clinical descriptions of both the transient and permanent types of neonatal diabetes have been already quite well established. There is a great deal of research being now carried out however by developmental biologists on the many factors, which are called transcription factors, that are necessary for the growth of the beta cell to the point of insulin secretion. At some stage, this may be able to explain your diabetes more fully and better understanding of the field may one day offer an alternative to islet cell transplantation. If you are near to the right sort of library you might want to look at The concerted activities of Pax4 and Nkx2.2 are essential to initiate pancreatic beta-cell differentiation. or even to explore the growing literature in the field.

DOB