The National Spokesman for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation calls it the next best thing to a cure.

George Canyon says encapsulation is about to go into clinical trials.

"The device is like about as big as a band-aid and it slips under the skin," Canyon says. "What they're hoping to do is go into Canadian clinical trials starting in our backyard here at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, but they're hoping it'll pretty much alleviate type 1 diabetes for up to 12 months at a time."

He says being diabetic is tough physically but also psychologically so anything that can alleviate it for that long a time is a huge step forward.

"For the parents of children with Type 1 Diabetes this has got to excite them, because I remember my mom and dad when I was diagnosed at 14 many years ago, they were just beside themselves just wondering what the future would hold for me," he says.

Canyon's asking everyone to urge their MLAs and federal candidates to push for more research.