A group of researchers from The University of Tokyo and BEANS Research Institute are doing R&D on a blood sugar sensor that reacts to glucose and lights up inside the body.
This system uses a jelly-like material called a hydrogel, which varies the intensity of emitted light depending on glucose concentration. Fluorescent gel beads, formed by microfabricating this material, are introduced inside the body, enabling blood sugar to be measured from outside the skin. In the future, this technology will lead to blood sugar sensors that can be implanted in the body.
This research is part of an industrial-academic collaboration project called the BEANS Project. BEANS stands for "Bio Electro-mechanical Autonomous Nano Systems."
"When we actually implanted these beads in the ear of a mouse, we were able to measure how the light intensity changed as the mouse's blood sugar level went up and down."
With diabetes, strict control of blood sugar is essential to prevent complications. At present, most diabetes patients need to prick their finger every day to measure their blood sugar. But this new method is expected to enable 24/7 measurement of blood sugar, without burdening patients.
"For example, people's blood sugar level goes up and down before they realize it, while they're sleeping, exercising, or eating. Through continuous monitoring, people could be alerted by a warning signal, before their blood sugar gets dangerously high or low. We think it may be possible to develop devices that manage people's blood sugar without them being aware of it."
"One issue is how long the beads will continue to function while implanted. When a foreign object enters the body, proteins quickly adhere to it, and they act like a filter, so the light intensity decreases rapidly. We need to use our processing technology to create a surface that prevents protein adsorption. Another issue is how to create a system that enables measurement without burdening the patient. We want to solve those problems in this project, but we think it'll take five or ten years at the earliest."
Related Links :
-
Takeuchi Research Group -- Biohybrid Systems Laboratory-
Micromachine/MEMS 2010
