The Evolution of Diabetes Treatments: From Insulin Therapy to Synthetic Biology

Diabetes mellitus is one of the most prevalent diseases in the world and a leading cause of many cardiovascular diseases. Today, there is a wide range of options available to treat diabetes. Over the last few decades, the clinical field has gone through a major shift in the direction of genetic engineering and synthetic biology. This has led to many new techniques and treatments that can help manage diabetes. The purpose of this study is to summarize the advancement of diabetic treatments from old, conventional methods to new-age treatments which hold the potential to cure diabetes. While reviewing published research and review articles, we found that over the last few decades, there has been a surge in more handy devices to monitor and manage blood glucose levels. With advancements in the field of science, techniques such as genetic engineering, nanotechnology and synthetic biology are being used to design new devices or artificially engineer cells to relieve the symptoms associated with the disease. While the old conventional ways of taking medications or managing glycaemic levels using insulin syringes are more common, new-age treatments like insulin patches, synthetic cells, and synthetic receptors will likely gain popularity in the coming years.