Bioengineers at the University of Rice have leverage printing 3D and smart biomaterials to make new implants for type 1 diabetes that produce insulin. The breakthrough was the result of a three-year partnership between researchers and the Juvenile diabetes research foundation. Researchers use insulin-producing beta cells made from human stem cells to make implants can feel and regulate blood glucose levels by responding to the correct number of insulin for a certain time.

Omid Veiseh and Jordan Miller researchers have worked on projects for more than a decade. Veiseh said that to recapitulate what pancreas usually requires blood vessels. The pancreas has many blood vessels and cells held in a certain way. Researchers want to print the same orientation in nature.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease which causes the pancreas to stop using insulin. Insulin is a hormone needed to control blood sugar levels. About 1.6 million people in America have type 1 diabetes, and more than 100 cases are diagnosed every day. This condition is managed with insulin injection, but manages insulin injections along with eating, sports, and other activities can be difficult.

The aim of the researchers is to show that their implants can regulate blood glucose levels for diabetes mice for at least six months. Doing that requires them to engineer beta cells able to respond to blood glucose changes quickly. Ideally, insulin producing cells are no more than 100 microns from blood vessels. They utilize the pre-vascularization combination through advanced 3D bioprinting and vascular renovations mediated by the host.

The combination gives each implant several opportunities on the host integration. Cells in implants that produce insulin will be protected with hydrogel formulations that have been proven effective in summarizing cell care in the field of bead-sized fields. They have small pores to keep cells inside so that they are not attacked by the immune system while large enough to allow nutrition and insulin out of the cell.