Scientists at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre For Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) have developed a new silk-based hydrogel system that mimics the pancreas, offering a potential breakthrough in insulin delivery for diabetes treatment.
The innovative approach is expected to provide a more efficient and responsive method for insulin release, addressing the challenges faced by individuals with both Type 1 and advanced stage Type 2 diabetes.
Prof. T. Govindaraju and his team from the Bio-organic Chemistry Laboratory, New Chemistry Unit at JNCASR, said that they were motivated by the success of a previously developed passive insulin release system. In that study, insulin was encapsulated in the silk protein fibroin and injected under the skin, resulting in the slow diffusion of insulin over a period of five days. Building on these findings, Prof. Govindaraju’s team modified the silk protein to create a super smart system that releases insulin in response to glucose levels in the blood.
