glucose

Next-gen blood glucose monitor: High-tech tattoos

Chemical engineers at MIT are designing carbon nanotubes that can be injected beneath the skin to reveal continuous blood glucose levels in real time. If it works, people with Type I diabetes may not have to prick their fingers multiple times a day to monitor their glucose levels.

Dubbed a "tattoo" that's designed to detect glucose, the nanotubes are wrapped in a polymer that is sensitive to glucose concentrations. A wearable device roughly the size of a wristwatch shines infrared light through the skin and onto the nanotubes, which fluoresce when in contact with glucose.

So it's really a tattoo in hiding. And at this point the sensor is estimated to have a shelf (or is it skin?) life of roughly six months.

But the team, which plans to start testing on animals soon, says that if the readings are accurate enough to pass the Clarke Error Grid analysis for glucose sensor accuracy, the system could revolutionize continuous glucose monitoring.

"The most problematic consequences of diabetes result from relatively short excursions of a person's blood sugar outside of the normal physiological range, following meals, for example," said Michael Strano, a professor at MIT's Department of Chemical Engineering. "If we can detect and prevent these excursions, we can go a long way toward reducing the devastating impact of this disease."… Read more

Got diabetes? No more pricks, just breathe on this

Our breath can say a lot about us--and not just what we had for lunch.

Engineers at the University of Florida are reporting that they have designed a tiny and affordable sensor that can do what has up until now been considered impossible: detect glucose (as well as pH and alkalinity) levels in breath condensate.

Fan Ren, professor of chemical engineering and a researcher for this project, says that the team's most recent research, published in the January issue of IEEE Sensors Journal, upsets long-held assumptions that glucose levels in breath are too small for accurate readings; the sensor, … Read more

Glucogrip monitors glucose levels, resembles iPhone

Blood glucose monitoring has improved greatly in recent years, with devices getting smaller, cheaper, and faster--a good thing, since almost 8 percent of Americans are diabetic, according to some estimates, and are encouraged to monitor their blood glucose levels anywhere from one to a dozen times a day.

So it should come as no surprise that the next-gen device, introduced by Italian product developer Giulio Sbarigia, is even smaller and faster, and bears some resemblance to the iPhone.

Designed by Pelikan, Sbarigia describes his device as ergonomic, with 50 tiny needles that are easy to load, supposedly painless, and leave … Read more

Sony gets sweet on Bio Batteries

Sony's biotech battery has a sweet tooth. It sups on glucose for energy (much like some of us) converting the sugar within beverages such as fruit juice and even Pocari Sweat into electricity.

A four-cell array is reportedly capable of generating up to 50mW of power, enough for small devices at the moment. For a glimpse into the future of alternative power cells, check out the video of the battery seen powering a desk fan and speakers attached to a Walkman, after being juiced up on a sugar solution.

The Bio Battery imitates real life by using enzymes to … Read more

RFID implant for a healthier diet

See, we told you. RFID is taking over the world. We can now add diabetic monitoring to the infinite list of RFID applications.

Unlike the chips that are inevitably destined for our brains, however, this implanted device seems to have an indisputably worthy goal. VeriChip's invention is designed to help diabetics--and presumably others with high blood sugar--check their glucose levels without the need to break the skin through traditional testing methods. The implanted chip, which The Wireless Report says can be injected, transmits the glucose levels to scanners without the need for batteries. That sounds even easier to operate … Read more