{"id":78,"date":"2025-10-31T15:20:02","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T19:20:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ar.bu.edu\/2025\/?page_id=78"},"modified":"2025-11-25T17:06:26","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T22:06:26","slug":"ilet","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ar.bu.edu\/2025\/scientific-progress\/ilet\/","title":{"rendered":"“This Device Means Rory Can Live Like Any Other Kid”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Above: Rory Mansfield has type 1 diabetes but lives a normal life, says his mother, Betsey Monaco, a pediatrician. Ed Damiano, research professor of biomedical engineering at Boston University, coinvented the iLet Bionic Pancreas, an automated insulin delivery device.<\/em><\/p>\n

Rory Mansfield<\/strong> has type 1 diabetes, but these days he can visit a friend\u2019s house, play soccer, and eat what he wants\u2014like any other kid. It\u2019s all thanks to the iLet Bionic Pancreas\u2014developed in a BU lab by engineering professor Ed Damiano<\/strong><\/a>\u2014which automatically delivers just enough insulin to correct the user\u2019s blood sugar.<\/p>\n

Rory\u2019s mother, pediatrician Betsey Monaco<\/strong>, says she and her husband, Paul Mansfield, lost a lot of sleep testing blood sugar levels, giving injections, and just worrying about Rory and his brother Frankie, who is also diabetic. Then, in 2023, Rory got the iLet from Beta Bionics, a company Damiano cofounded.<\/p>\n

Monaco talks to Damiano about how the iLet allows Rory to live a more normal life. Damiano began conceptualizing the device in 2000, after his infant son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. He began preclinical testing at BU in 2005 and clinical trials, with Dr. Steven Russell, in 2008. Damiano is delighted that, in the short time the device has been commercially available, it has already helped thousands of families like Monaco\u2019s: \u201cThe project has been more rewarding than I ever imagined.\u201d<\/p>\n

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BU Professor Ed Damiano and Dr. Betsey Monaco in conversation.<\/h2>

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