The April 14^th issue of Science Translational Medicine has a research article describing how bioengineers at Boston University and Massachusetts General Hospital built an artificial pancreas and successfully tested it on eleven Type 1 diabetes patients.  The external device relies on an algorithm that balances blood glucose with a fast-acting insulin analog, lispro, and glucogen (both hormones delivered subcutaneously).  Five of the eleven patients, who had slower lispro uptake than the other six, presented with hypoglycemia, but the developers believe that adjustments to their algorithm can compensate for the lispro kinetics.  “These results demonstrate the feasibility of safe BG control by a bihormonal artificial endocrine pancreas.”         MORE