Stimulating and Sensing Insulin Secretion

Diabetes is a global issue of increasing magnitude. In 2017, at least 30 million people in the US had the condition – and another 85 million could be described as “prediabetic” (1). Beta cell transplants represent one therapeutic avenue, but current approaches for confirming the post-transplant functionality of these cells are labor intensive and time consuming, producing data that are difficult to interpret.

Seeking a new approach, Kit Parker and colleagues at Harvard and The University of Florida combined microfluidic technology and stem cell biology to develop an “islet-on-a-chip” device capable of measuring insulin secreted in response to glucose stimulus (2); more specifically, the device is able to continuously sense and quantify insulin secretion by an automated, on-chip immunoassay and fluorescence anisotropy, respectively. “By incorporating microfluidics and optical sensors into a single device, we’ve been able to acquire reams of information regarding cellular performance and response times – in near-real time,” says Parker.

“Now that we have a tool, we can begin to develop protocols around quality control – this will help us to know exactly what we are transplanting into the patient,” says Parker. Though the device has hurdles to jump ahead of clinical use, Parker believes it could have an immediate impact on diabetes research. “There is a lot to learn about diabetes using tools like this,” he says. “This granular understanding of the temporal dynamics of cells is unprecedented, and it’s likely that future findings will challenge the established canons in diabetes.”