Researchers from ETH Zurich have developed artificial beta cells that can measure blood glucose concentration and respond by producing insulin. The team’s work was published this week in Science.
The ETH researchers used the natural glucose transport proteins and potassium channels found in the membrane of human kidney cells and modified them with a voltage-dependent calcium channel, a gene to produce insulin and a hormone that helps to regulate blood sugar levels, GLP-1. Early tests of the cells in mice with diabetes were promising, as the modified human kidney cells worked for 3 weeks, according to the team. “They worked better and for longer than any solution achieved anywhere in the world so far,” lead researcher Professor Martin Fussenegger said in prepared remarks.
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