As part of VANGUARD, a large-scale project funded by the European Union and led by Georgian physician and scientist Ekaterine Berishvili—an Associate Professor at the University of Geneva School of Medicine—a revolutionary device for treating Type 1 diabetes has been created: the bio-artificial pancreas. This new implant restores the patient’s ability to regulate blood sugar levels.
In Europe alone, more than 2.2 million people live with Type 1 diabetes. Until now, a complete cure for the disease has been impossible, leaving patients entirely dependent on constant blood sugar monitoring and insulin injections.
While pancreatic cell transplantation is an existing practice, Ekaterine Berishvili explains: “This method is strictly limited by the scarcity of human donors and the necessity for patients to take immunosuppressants (immune-suppressing medications) for the rest of their lives.”
To overcome these barriers, a five-year research effort led to the creation of Amniogel—a specialized hydrogel derived from the amniotic membrane. It integrates insulin-producing cells into a protective biomaterial, preventing the body from rejecting the foreign object. Amniogel shields the transplanted cells from the patient’s immune system, eliminating the need for lifelong immunosuppressants. The product has already been recognized by the European Commission’s “Innovation Radar” as a market-ready technology with high commercial potential.
One of the project’s most significant achievements is the successful use of porcine (pig) cells for transplantation. Scientists created 3D organ-cell clusters (organoids) that produce insulin and form blood vessels.
“When scaling cell therapy, one of the biggest hurdles is the shortage of donors, but porcine cells offer a potentially unlimited, renewable source. Xenotransplantation (the transplanting of animal organs or tissues into humans), once considered a distant prospect, is now a serious and rapidly developing field,” the Georgian scientist notes.
The bio-artificial pancreas developed within the project has successfully passed full validation in preclinical studies. Currently, the research team is working on refining the device’s immuno-protective strategies and preparing to launch the first clinical trials in humans.
As Ekaterine Berishvili puts it: “The path toward a functional cure for Type 1 diabetes—one that is not dependent on donor shortages or lifelong immunosuppression—is now a more achievable reality than ever before.”
