Feinstein Institute receives $1 million to develop electronic pancreas

Northwell Health’s Feinstein Institute for Medical Research has received a $1million grant from The Knapp Family Foundation to launch a research program that will explore bioelectronic medicine to treat diabetes, including an electronic pancreas, according to a press release from the institute.

“Diabetes impacts our family as it impacts millions of other families around the world, which is why we are passionate in our support of the Feinstein Institute’s innovative and scientific efforts in combating this debilitating condition,” Charles Knapp, president of The Knapp Family Foundation, said in the release.

This grant will support a program to develop an implantable device that will regulate a patient’s glucose metabolism without the use of insulin; instead, the device will modulate specific neural pathways.

“The new research program will support our development of devices that help the body heal itself, without relying on drugs, but rather on our own nervous system to provide new, safe treatment options for a condition plaguing some many Americans,” Chad Bouton, MS, vice president of advanced engineering for Northwell Health and director of the Feinstein Institute’s Center for Bioelectronic Medicine, said in the release.

The researchers aim to target both type 1 and type 2 diabetes with their technology.