Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is one of the most common chronic childhood diseases requiring lifelong insulin therapy. Children and adolescents with T1D need regular insulin injections or the continuous insulin delivery using an insulin pump in order to keep blood glucose levels normal. We know that keeping blood sugars in the normal range will help prevent long-term diabetes-related complications involving the eyes, kidneys and heart. However, achieving treatment goals can be very difficult particularly due to the risk of low glucose levels (hypoglycaemia). One solution is to use a system where the amount of insulin injected closely matches the blood sugar levels on a continuous basis. This can be achieved by what is known as a "closed-loop system" where a small glucose sensor placed under the skin communicates with a computer containing an algorithm that drives a subcutaneous insulin pump. We have been testing such a system in Cambridge over the last five years in children and have found that this system is effective, and superior to usual insulin pump therapy, at maintaining tight glucose control. More recently the system has been tested overnight, in the home setting, for three weeks in adolescents during a pilot single-centre study.