Acton Man Invents 'Bionic Pancreas' for Diabetic Son

Ed Damiano, an associate professor of biomedical engineering at Boston University, is developing what he calls a "bionic pancreas," inspired to do so to help his son David, who has diabetes, reported NPR. 

Damiano, who lives in Acton, monitors his son's sugar levels at night, jumping to his bedside should the sugar levels drop below normal. His son was diagnosed with Type I diabetes when he was less than a year old. 

David will go to college in three years, and Damiano hopes that his system, which helps manage blood sugar, will be approved by the Food and Drug Administration by, or before, then, said NPR. Tests, and their results, which were favorable, are published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The "bionic pancreas" works as an app on an iPhone. 

Listen to the entire NPR broadcast here.