New implant could transform diabetes treatment

A new implant developed at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology may offer a self-regulating treatment for diabetes, according to a new study in collaboration with MIT, Harvard, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Massachusetts.

The study, led by Assistant Professor Shady Farah of the Faculty of Chemical Engineering at the Technion, was peer-reviewed and was published in Science. It introduced a “living, cell-based implant” that works as a pancreas and is protected against immune rejection by a novel system.

According to the statement, the implant “continuously senses blood-glucose levels, produces insulin within the implant itself, and releases the exact amount needed – precisely when it is needed.

In effect, the implant becomes a self-regulating, drug-manufacturing organ inside the body, requiring no external pumps, injections, or patient intervention.”

However, foreign implants are often rejected by the body’s immune system, a problem that has hindered solutions like this for years. 

In one of the study’s “most significant breakthroughs,” the researchers developed a novel crystalline shield-protecting technology designed to protect the artificial pancreas.

Made of engineered therapeutic crystals, the shield prevents the body’s immune system from recognizing the implant as foreign, enabling it to “function reliably and continuously for several years.”

The idea, developed by Asst. Prof. Farah, as a concept in 2018, continues to be researched in Asst. Prof. Farah’s laboratory at the Technion is in close collaboration with leading US institutions, including MIT, Harvard, the University of Massachusetts, Boston Children’s Hospital, and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Despite its focus on the pancreas, the research team intends for the new crystalline-shield technology to adapt to other chronic conditions.

According to the release, the researchers emphasized that their “implantable, closed-loop platform may be adapted to treat a wide range of chronic conditions requiring continuous delivery of biological therapeutics – including hemophilia and other metabolic or genetic diseases.”

Tested on mice and non-human primates, the study represents a “critical milestone” in the journey to treat human patients, although human trials have not yet begun.