The Bio-Inspired Artificial Pancreas for Treatment of Diabetes

Our body is capable of glucose homeostasis through the use of insulin, a hormone secreted from an organ called the pancreas. Type 1 diabetes is an auto-immune disease that affects the pancreas by destroying the insulin-secreting beta-cells. This results in elevated glucose concentrations which in turn cause organ damage, including retinopathy leading to blindness, nephropathy leading to kidney failure, neuropathy which is irreversible nerve damage in addition to affecting quality of life. Type 1 diabetes currently affects 10% of the 285 million people suffering from diabetes and its incidence is increasing. To intensively manage diabetes there is a need for an artificial equivalent to the pancreas which is capable of continually sensing glucose from the blood, which rises after a meal, and releasing insulin. In this talk I will present my development of the bio-inspired artificial pancreas, a closed-loop system that replicates the functionality of the biological pancreas to achieve real-time glucose control. At the heart of the device lies the silicon beta-cell, a microchip which replicates the behaviors of the beta-cells of the pancreas and when connected to a glucose sensor, calculates and continually delivers the amount of insulin needed to achieve a healthy glucose control, improving quality of life and ultimately reducing all the secondary complications. This device is currently being worn by diabetic subjects and I will show results of our ongoing human clinical trials conducted in the UK.