Scientists have developed an implantable "artificial pancreas" that continuously measures a person's blood sugar level and can automatically release insulin as needed.

The breakthrough, reported in the American Chemical Society journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, could soon offer new hope to people living with Type 1 diabetes, which requires constant monitoring of blood sugar levels and injecting insulin daily.

Type 1 diabetes, which affects about 1.25 million Americans, causes a person's own immune system to destroy the pancreas cells that make insulin, the hormone that converts blood sugar into energy. To make up for this loss of insulin production, patients must take insulin daily.

Most diabetics inject themselves multiple times a day or wear an insulin pump.

But the new device — developed by Francis J. Doyle III Francis J. Doyle III, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of California at Santa Barbara who was recently named dean of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences — would allow for glucose monitoring and insulin delivery to be automatic and needle-free.

Tests of the artificial pancreas showed it can maintain blood glucose within the target range nearly 80 percent of the time. The researchers will now begin testing the device in animals — a precursor to human clinical trials.

The team’s research was funded, in part, by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.