Diabetics will soon be able to throw away their insulin-injecting needles, according to USresearchers. The scientists are hoping to administer the essential hormone to patients by implanting bioengineered insulin-producing cells under the skin. Bernhard Hering, from the University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis told the 17th World Congress of the Transplantation Society that US biotech company Vivorx is poised to begin human trials of sucha treatment this year. Four other research groups are planning similar studies within the next two years, he said at the Montreal meeting on Thursday 16 July.