Researchers at ETH Zurich's Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering in Basel have built an implantable electronic system that removes excess glucose from the blood, offering a possible drug-free treatment for type 2 diabetes. The device, developed in the group of Martin Fussenegger and reported in Science, contains no cells, enzymes or other biological components. Instead it relies on an inorganic catalyst: graphite felt studded with gold nanoclusters that are themselves decorated with smaller platinum particles.
The catalyst converts glucose into gluconate, which the body excretes in urine rather than storing as fat. A continuous glucose sensor monitors tissue glucose and communicates via Bluetooth with a smartphone or smartwatch, activating the catalyst when levels climb after a meal and switching off automatically once the target is reached, a safeguard against dangerously low blood sugar. The control unit sits in a 3D-printed casing and is powered wirelessly at 13.56 megahertz.
In laboratory tests the catalyst processed glucose in five litres of solution, roughly the blood volume of a human body, and in mice it regulated blood sugar precisely over six weeks while the animals lost weight and tolerated the implant well. The system has not yet been tested in humans, but its reliance on commercially available control and wireless-power components could simplify the path towards an approved medical device.