A silicon pancreatic islet for the treatment of diabetes

This paper presents an integrated silicon pancreatic islet to be used for the control algorithm of an artificial pancreas. The system replicates the temporal behaviour of the electrophysiology of the alpha and beta cells which are located in the islet of Langerhans in the pancreas, generating signals which can be used to infuse the two regulatory hormones, glucagon and insulin, used for tight glycemic control. The silicon islet can be easily programmed to choose between multiple bursting periods and can thus be tailored to each patients insulin sensitivity. Designed in a 0.35μm process, the system is fully integrated with an on-chip digitally tuned oscillator to drive the system and an algorithmic mode A/D converter to interface to an electrochemical glucose sensor.