Philadelphia researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, working with engineers at Harvard, have wired up lab-grown mini pancreases with hair-thin electronics, nudging immature alpha and beta cells to grow up, synchronize and respond to sugar more like natural islets. The so-called “cyborg” mesh becomes part of the tissue as it forms, which lets the team run months of single-cell electrical monitoring and patterned stimulation that boosts glucose-triggered hormone release. The work, published in Science on Feb. 19, 2026, points toward new ways to prepare or support cell-based transplants for people with Type 1 diabetes.
Stretchy Electronics That Grow With the Tissue
The device is an ultrathin, stretchable mesh that researchers slide between layers…..