Injection-Free Diabetes Control May Be Within Reach

September 25, 2023 by Dan McCue
Injection-Free Diabetes Control May Be Within Reach
MIT engineers designed an implantable device that carries hundreds of thousands of islet cells along with its own on-board oxygen factory to keep the cells healthy. (Felice Frankel; MIT News)

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have designed a new implantable device to help in the treatment of Type 1 diabetes.

One promising approach to treating Type 1 diabetes is implanting pancreatic islet cells that can produce insulin when needed, which can free patients from giving themselves frequent insulin injections. However, one major obstacle to this approach is that once the cells are implanted, they eventually run out of oxygen and stop producing insulin.

The MIT team’s unique approach could potentially generate oxygen indefinitely, by splitting water. This is done using a proton-exchange membrane — a technology originally deployed to generate hydrogen in fuel cells — located within the device. This membrane can split water vapor (found abundantly in the body) into hydrogen, which diffuses harmlessly away, and oxygen, which goes into a storage chamber that feeds the islet cells through a thin, oxygen-permeable membrane.

An advantage of this approach is that it does not require any wires or batteries. Splitting this water vapor requires a small voltage (about 2 volts), which is generated using a phenomenon known as resonant inductive coupling. A tuned magnetic coil located outside the body transmits power to a small, flexible antenna within the device, allowing for wireless power transfer. It does require an external coil, which the researchers anticipate could be worn as a patch on the patient’s skin.

After building their device, which is about the size of a U.S. quarter, the researchers tested it in diabetic mice. One group of mice received the device with the oxygen-generating, water-splitting membrane, while the other received a device that contained islet cells without any supplemental oxygen. The devices were implanted just under the skin in mice with fully functional immune systems.

The researchers showed this device could keep the mice’s blood glucose levels stable for at least a month. The researchers now hope to create a larger version of the device, about the size of a stick of chewing gum, that could eventually be tested in people with Type 1 diabetes.

“We’re excited by the progress so far, and we really are optimistic that this technology could end up helping patients,” said Daniel Anderson, a professor in MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering, a member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, and senior author of the study, in a press release.

While the researchers’ main focus is on diabetes treatment, they say that this kind of device could also be adapted to treat other diseases that require repeated delivery of therapeutic proteins. “The materials we’ve used are inherently stable and long-lived, so I think that kind of long-term operation is within the realm of possibility, and that’s what we’re working on,” said MIT research scientist Siddharth Krishnan, the lead author of the paper.

The research was funded by JDRF, the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering at the National Institutes of Health.

A+
a-
  • diabetes
  • injection-free
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • In The News

    Health

    Voting

    Health

    Chronic Fatigue Syndrome More Common Than Past Studies Suggest, CDC Says

    NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials on Friday released the first nationally representative estimate of how many U.S. adults have... Read More

    NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials on Friday released the first nationally representative estimate of how many U.S. adults have chronic fatigue syndrome: 3.3 million. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's number is larger than previous studies have suggested, and is likely boosted by some... Read More

    December 8, 2023
    by Tom Ramstack
    White House Threatens to Penalize Pharma Companies for High Prices

    WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced a plan Thursday to lower prescription drug costs in a move that takes a... Read More

    WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced a plan Thursday to lower prescription drug costs in a move that takes a tough stance toward pharmaceutical companies charging high prices. If the Federal Trade Commission determines the prices are unreasonable, the new policy allows the federal government to... Read More

    December 6, 2023
    by Dan McCue
    House Unanimously Passes Bill to Increase Mental Health Resources for Veterans’ Caregivers

    WASHINGTON — The House on Monday unanimously passed the Caregiver Outreach and Program Enhancement Act, which would increase mental health... Read More

    WASHINGTON — The House on Monday unanimously passed the Caregiver Outreach and Program Enhancement Act, which would increase mental health resources available to caregivers of America’s veteran population. Alternately known as the COPE Act, the bipartisan legislation sponsored by Reps. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., and Jen Kiggans,... Read More

    December 6, 2023
    by Dan McCue
    HHS Unveils Next Steps to Enhance Cybersecurity of Health Care Records

    WASHINGTON — The bad guys in cyberspace want your health care records.  Between 2018 and 2022, there was a 93%... Read More

    WASHINGTON — The bad guys in cyberspace want your health care records.  Between 2018 and 2022, there was a 93% increase in large breaches in the health care sector, with a 278% increase in large breaches involving ransomware, according to the Department of Health and Human... Read More

    December 6, 2023
    by Dan McCue
    New Report Sheds Some Light on Rare Post-COVID Shot Syndrome

    NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A study from the Yale School of Medicine sheds some new light on the rare, but... Read More

    NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A study from the Yale School of Medicine sheds some new light on the rare, but chronic and debilitating condition some people report experiencing after getting a COVID-19 vaccination. The paper, which was posted on the preprint server medRxiv and has not... Read More

    December 6, 2023
    by Dan McCue
    Greene Seeks to Reinstate Pilots Fired Due to COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates

    WASHINGTON — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has introduced legislation in the House aimed at reinstating pilots who were fired... Read More

    WASHINGTON — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has introduced legislation in the House aimed at reinstating pilots who were fired or forced to resign due to COVID-19 vaccination mandates. A companion bill is being sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan. While there is... Read More

    News From The Well
    scroll top