Harvard biologist Doug Melton, PhD, is exploring the use of stem cells to create replacement beta cells that produce insulin, according to Time magazine.
Dr. Doug Melton
In 2014, he co-founded Semma Therapeutics to develop the technology, which was acquired by Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
“The company has created a small, implantable device that holds millions of replacement beta cells, letting glucose and insulin through but keeping immune cells out. ‘If it works in people as well as it does in animals, it’s possible that people will not be diabetic,’ said Dr. Melton, co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. ‘They will eat and drink and play like those of us who are not.’”
Reference
Steinberg D. 12 innovations that will change health care and medicine in the 2020s. Time. 2019 Oct 25. https://time.com/5710295/top-health-innovations/ Accessed Dec 5, 2019.