Smartphone‐Flashlight‐Mediated Remote Control of Rapid Insulin Secretion Restores Glucose Homeostasis in Experimental Type‐1 Diabetes

Emerging digital assessment of biomarkers by linking health‐related data obtained from wearable electronic devices and embedded health and fitness sensors in smartphones is opening up the possibility of creating a continuous remote‐monitoring platform for disease management. It is considered that the built‐in flashlight of smartphones may be utilized to remotely program genetically engineered designer cells for on‐demand delivery of protein‐based therapeutics. Here, the authors present smartphone‐induced insulin release in β‐cell line (iβ‐cell) technology for traceless light‐triggered rapid insulin secretion, employing the light‐activatable receptor melanopsin to induce calcium influx and membrane depolarization upon illumination. This iβ‐cell‐based system enables repeated, reversible secretion of insulin within 15 min in response to light stimulation, with a high induction fold both in vitro and in vivo. It is shown that programmable percutaneous remote control of implanted microencapsulated iβ‐cells with a smartphone's flashlight rapidly reverses hyperglycemia in a mouse model of type‐1 diabetes. Engineered designer cells are developed that can rapidly release insulin from pre‐formed granular vesicles upon stimulation with a generic smartphone‐embedded flashlight after as little as 15 min of stimulation. The effectiveness of smartphone‐mediated insulin release is validated in cell culture (in vitro) as well as in experimental type‐1 diabetes (in vivo).