In 2010, work started on a radical new treatment for gout that involves the patient’s own genetically-engineered cells inside a small capsule implanted in the body. This may one day become the “diabetes capsule,” as it has great potential for all metabolic disorders. Lead researcher Professor Martin Fussenegger of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich has been working on this device which balances chemicals and hormones in the body by acting like a synthetic organ. In tests with mice, it has been proven that the technique works in the case of gout. The reprogrammed cells were able to detect uric acid increase and release an enzyme to destroy it. It is this genetic circuitry’s ability to detect a condition, process the information, and produce a beneficial chemical response that shows such promise in treating other imbalances in the body. This early research may one day produce …