Engineering Commons^™

Materials For Diabetes Therapeutics, Kaitlin M. Bratlie, Roger L. York, Michael A. Invernale, Robert Langer, Daniel G. Anderson

Kaitlin M. Bratlie

This review is focused on the materials and methods used to fabricate closedloop systems for type 1 diabetes therapy. Herein, we give a brief overview of current methods used for patient care and discuss two types of possible treatments and the materials used for these therapies-(i) artificial pancreases, comprised of insulin producing cells embedded in a polymeric biomaterial, and (ii) totally synthetic pancreases formulated by integrating continuous glucose monitors with controlled insulin release through degradable polymers and glucose-responsive polymer systems. Both the artificial and the completely synthetic pancreas have two major design requirements: the device must be both biocompatible and …