Now, a team led by Martin Fussenegger has developed a potential new way to treat diabetes: an implantable system that uses an electrically powered catalyst to lower blood glucose. Fussenegger is a professor in ETH Zurich’s Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering in Basel. The team’s findings have been published in Science.
New approach uses electronics instead of biomolecules
For years, the Basel-based team of researchers has been exploring ways to tackle diabetes with systems that regulate blood sugar. Earlier approaches relied on specially developed genetic networks. However, these systems depend on biological components, which pose additional challenges in areas such as immune tolerance, stability, manufacturing and regulatory approval.