This blew me away when I read it.

Seattle-based Dana Lewis suffers from Type 1 Diabetes, and has done since she was 14. One of the issues facing diabetics is that during the night, despite having all kinds of different monitoring equipment, it is all too easy for the sufferer to not be woken by the alarm, leading to them feeling unwell in the morning, or possibly even dying during the middle of the night. To solve this, Lewis and her then-fiance (now husband) Scott Leibrand concocted a monitoring system that would keep an eye on her glucose levels and then recommend an insulin dose to the injection device she wears. After prototyping the device, which they dubbed the DIY Pancreas, and requiring Lewis to press a button to administer the dose, they realised that they had an algorithm they could use that could learn from her habits and get the dose right 100% of the time. They used a Raspberry Pi to receive data from the monitor, control the algorithm and then issue commands to the insulin pump automatically, thus enabling Lewis to sleep soundly.

They are now supporting other diabetics who are seeking to ‘close the loop’ on their treatment.

Read more on this amazing project at Business Insider and take a look at their blog for the full story.