This is pretty amazing stuff. The research is being led by the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation. The technology is called the DRI BioHub.
The DRI BioHub is a bioengineered “mini organ” that mimics the native pancreas. It contains real insulin-producing cells that can sense blood sugar and release the precise amount of insulin needed — in real time.
To the millions living with diabetes, the DRI BioHub brings the promise of natural insulin production and normal blood sugar levels one step closer to reality.
DRI has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to proceed with a Phase I/II clinical trial that will test the omentum, an apron-like lining inside the abdomen, as a possible location in the body for a DRI BioHub. In this pilot trial, researchers will transplant donor islet cells into the omentum within a “biodegradable scaffold,” one of the approaches originally conceived as a potential BioHub platform.
The biodegradable scaffold is made using a patient’s own plasma, the liquid part of the blood. Researchers combine the islet cells with the plasma, apply it to the omentum, and then add thrombin, a commonly used, clinical-grade enzyme. When mixed together, these substances create a gel-like material that sticks to the omentum and holds the islets in place. This section of the omentum will be folded over and stitched, creating a pouch around the biodegradable scaffold mixture.
Over time, the body will absorb the plasma/thrombin gel leaving the islet cells intact, while new blood vessels are formed to support the cells’ survival and function. Patients involved in this pilot trial will be given the immunosuppressive drugs currently used for other clinical islet transplantation studies.