No More Pin Pricks

My Mom and Dad both suffers from diabetes. Every morning, they check their glucose level using a device called a glucometer. It uses a small sample of blood to analyze the glucose level in your body.

And since diabetes and can be passed down to generation, I know that there is a big chance that I will get it.

While surfing the web a couple of weeks ago, I discovered some pretty awesome invention that might save me from those early morning needle pricks.

Nano Tattoos Detects Blood Sugar Levels

Diabetics monitoring their glucose levels may soon put the days of painful finger-sticks behind them. Instead, they can go through the one-time ordeal of getting inked with a nanoparticle tattoo. Heather Clark, a scientist at Draper Laboratories, has developed a nano ink particle that constantly samples glucose levels in the skin. Injected subcutaneously, the ink changes color in response to glucose content.

The nano ink particles are tiny, squishy spheres about 120 nanometers across. Inside the sphere are three parts: the glucose detecting molecule, a color-changing dye, and another molecule that mimics glucose.
…
If the molecules mostly latch onto glucose, the ink appears yellow. If glucose levels are low, the molecule latches onto the glucose mimic, turning the ink purple. A healthy level of glucose has a “funny orangey,” color, according to Clark. The sampling process repeats itself every few milliseconds.

Link

Contact Lenses That Change Color To Alert Diabetics of Glucose Levels

Jin Zhang, a professor at the University of Western Ontario, is developing contact lenses that change color with the user’s blood sugar level. This could allow diabetics to monitor themselves without frequent blood samples. The technology:

…uses extremely small nanoparticles embedded into the hydrogel lenses. These engineered nanoparticles react with glucose molecules found in tears, causing a chemical reaction that changes their colour.

Link