Stick-on sugar sensor

摘要

Diabetics monitor blood glucose levels with devices that draw blood, analyze data and display numbers that signal levels outside the normal range. The "ringer pokes" are never comfortable, nor are the sore fingers and tiny adhesive bandages that result from a glucose monitoring routine. University of California, San Diego, graduate student Amay Bandodkar and colleagues in the NanoEngineering Department and Center for Wearable Sensors at the Jacobs School of Engineering had a better idea. The researchers developed a temporary tattoo printed with electrodes and sensors made of low-cost silver and silver chloride inks, conductive carbon and an insulating agent. One electrode is coated with an enzyme that reacts with glucose, allowing the noninvasive flexible tattoo to detect glucose levels.