Innovative removable implant ‘could help control type 1 diabetes’

Scientists have developed a new form of removable implant that could offer improved disease control for people with type 1 diabetes.

The Cornell University team have created a device that could make it possible to implant thousands of islet cells into a patient, protected by a thin hydrogel coating and attached to a polymer thread, meaning they can be removed or replaced easily.

Researchers took inspiration from the way water collects in beads on a spider's web, leading them to use an ionised calcium-releasing nanoporous polymer thread to connect the islet cell-containing capsules.

Treatment methods based on this research would involve using minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery to implant around six feet of hydrogel-coated thread into a patient's peritoneal cavity. Transplants could then be easily removed to prevent tumours from forming.

Assistant professor Minglin Ma, from Cornell University's department of biological and environmental engineering, said: "You don't want to put something in the body that you can't take out. With our method, that's not a problem."

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