A New Animal Inspired Technology To Help Insulin Users
Monday, March 4, 2019 at 2:59 PM 
By: Anita Osuri
In 2015, 30 million Americans had diabetes. This number seems to grow every day with about 1.5 million Americans being diagnosed each year. Currently, the only way to control diabetes is to inject insulin into the body with a needle. This can cause extreme discomfort and biohazardous needle waste. An alternative to this is the insulin pill, though with the pill comes the obstaclethat the acids in the gastrointestinal tract can possibly break down drugs before they can be absorbed.
However, after one hundred years of researching, scientists from MIT and Harvard have just created S.O.M.A. It stands for Self-Orienting Millimeter-scale Actuator, due to its ability to self inject insulin consistently into the top layer of the stomach lining. What fascinated me greatly about this invention is that it was inspired by the leopard tortoise. The shape of the tortoise is unique, allowing the animal to be upright from any orientation. Scientists used this shape to make the shape of the capsule so that the insulin would always go into the stomach lining and never into other organ systems.
The pill contains a tiny needle made of freeze dried insulin and a leopard tortoise-shaped capsule. The device enters the body through consumption, without any of the previously mentioned needle side effects. Then, when the device reaches the stomach, it will inject the insulin needle into the stomach wall. According to researchers, the stomach does not have pain receptors, to it does not cause any discomfort. Afterwards, the shaft of the needle degrades and the rest of the device harmlessly passes through the digestive system.
In the future, S.O.M.A. will could very well prevent issues of patients not taking their medicine due to unwillingness to use a needle. S.O.M.A. may even be helpful with other injectable medicines such as immunotherapy for cancer patients. In fact, MIT professor Robert Langer states,“We are really hopeful that this new type of capsule could someday help diabetic patients and perhaps anyone who requires therapies that can now only be given by injection or infusion.” Overall, this is just one example of how biotechnology, innovative thinking, teamwork, and research is able to produce such a helpful invention. Remember: we are the future!