Mexican engineer Carlos Omar Morales participates in the development of an artificial pancreas in Boston. He emphasized that the technology will solve the problems in patients suffering from diabetes, both type 1 and type 2.
Morales has worked at Northeastern University in the development of an artificial pancreas that came on the market last year, after more than ten years of work. The Boston-based engineer explained that by applying mathematics, control theory, computing, electronics and biological sensors, the device can detect the level of glucose in the body. It then sends an input signal to an insulin pump controlled by a microprocessor. In this way it is possible to calculate the future doses of insulin, adjusting according to how the body is changing.
“This progress reduces, mainly, the short-term problems in the case of hypoglycemia, it also reduces hyperglycemia, as well as long-term problems, such as repercussions that affect the heart, sight, extremities and kidney,” said Carlos Morales.
“The first commercial product is now available. At this moment only in the United States, but very soon it will be in Europe and Latin America,” said Morales during the 10th National Congress of Technology applied to Health Sciences, at the Iberoamericana University of Puebla.
He added that it is estimated that approximately ten percent of the world population has diabetes problems. Therefore, this project aims to have a far-reaching impact, not only for Mexico but also for the rest of the world.
Mexican artificial pancreas
It should be noted that the Mexican Josué Jiménez Vázquez, a researcher at the National Polytechnic Institute, created a bioartificial pancreas that facilitates the penetration of insulin, oxygen and nutrients in the body in order to compensate for what the patient loses as the disease progresses.
The device is still in the development phase, because it must comply with tests such as compatibility with the body of different patients who might need it, as well as the study of side effects that could occur.
Also Mexican, Ana Gabriela Gallardo created an intelligent device that by means of a sensor measures glucose levels in real time and through a pump that supplies the necessary dose of insulin in an automated way. In this way, the artificial pancreas regulates sugar levels regardless of the state of progression of the disease, or the amount of carbohydrates ingested or exercise practice.
For the development, Gallardo, electronic medical engineer by the Autonomous University of Guadalajara, was awarded the “Innovators under 35 years in Mexico” in 2013 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Source: La Jornada
