OTTAWA, March 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Bioengineers at the University of Calgary in Canada have successfully grown insulin producing cells in a lab, marking a major breakthrough in diabetes research.

    Scientists hope to eventually transplant lab-grown, insulin producing cells directly into the bodies of patients with Type 1 diabetes and free them from injections, Canadian Television reported on Thursday.

    Type 1 diabetes makes the body unable to produce enough insulin, requiring those suffering from the disease to inject themselves with the hormone.

    In theory, the transplant would eliminate the need for daily insulin injections by patients who suffer from the disease.

    "This transplant procedure, developed in Edmonton, is the best thing to come in 20 years to treat type one diabetes," said Dr. Leo Behie, the professor of chemical engineering in charge of the research project.

    Although there are still many steps to be taken including clinical trials, the tests that Behie and his team have done in his lab so far are very encouraging.

    In many cases people are now off insulin and they have good sugar controls in their blood with no constrains in terms of eating. "That is a big deal," said Behie.

    The research stems from a project by New York-based Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International (JDRF).

    Donna Lillie, of the Canadian Diabetes Association, said the research presented a real possibility for people with Type 1 diabetes to get rid of their multiple daily injections.

    "Dr. Behie's all-Canadian team has brought us one more step toward potentially securing a large supply of insulin-producing pancreatic cells for transplantation into individuals with Type 1 diabetes," Lillie said.

    University of Alberta scientists transplanted cells into Type 1diabetes sufferers in 2000, freeing some from injections over the last five years.

    But the approach they used required pancreas cells from as manyas three donor cadavers which created a supply headache. Even with the supply, only 10 percent were able to stop taking insulin injections.

    Behie said his plan to produce cloned cells on a large scale incomputer-controlled bioreactors would "get rid of this supply bottleneck."

    He said his goal was to provide Type 1 diabetes sufferers with a reliable supply of cells that eventually could be given through booster shots.  Enditem