A team of researchers have recently revealed that an implantable artificial pancreas that could monitor glucose levels and deliver insulin had shown positive results in lab. Very soon artificial pancreas will be tested with animals, said researchers.

According to the research team, the device aimed at simplifying the lives of Type 1 diabetes patients who monitor, calculate and inject the amount of insulin needed by bodies using a needle or an insulin pump.

The only issue with these methods was that they lagged between when a dose is needed and when it starts showing effect in a person’s body, said researchers.

Therefore, in order to solve this problem, researchers designed an algorithm that could monitor glucose levels, computes the insulin dose and delivers it immediately.

Researchers said the algorithm is exclusively designed to work with implanted devices, specifically with an artificial pancreas.

The algorithm was tested using iPads that were connected with an insulin pump. Computer simulations using the algorithm simulated the rise and fall of glucose in the body.

Researchers noted that blood glucose target ranges were met 80% of the time. Frank Doyle, chair of the University of California-Santa Barbara chemical engineering department, said in a statement that the closed-circuit system provided far more tight control at an unprecedented level in order to minimize complications and improve quality of life.

“It will have immediate benefits, as it will lower health-care costs in the country and it will reduce the amount of decisions people with diabetes need to make on a constant basis”, said Doyle.

The study is published in the Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research.