A research group led by Associate Professor Aoiichi Niitsu of the Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University has succeeded in prototyping the world's smallest contact lens type blood glucose monitoring device.
In the treatment and prevention of diabetes, it is important for the patient to keep track of the blood glucose level.Conventionally, invasive devices (damaging the inside of the body) such as implanting a sensor under the skin have been the mainstream for measuring blood glucose levels.As a minimally invasive device, a contact lens type device that focuses on the tear sugar concentration that correlates with the blood glucose concentration is attracting attention, but another device such as a glasses-type terminal for supplying electricity is required. Therefore, it is difficult to measure at bedtime and during exercise, and the current situation is that it is not widely used.
Therefore, the group has newly developed a contact lens equipped with a blood glucose sensor that integrates power generation and sensing.The solid-state glucose power generation element, which simultaneously generates and senses electricity, is one of the smallest in the world and generates more than XNUMX nanowatt of electric power based on the sugar (glucose) contained in tears.The semiconductor wireless transmitter circuit that transmits data can also be driven with about XNUMX / XNUMX of the conventional power.As a result, it is no longer necessary to use a glasses-type terminal for power supply, and it has become possible to continuously monitor the blood glucose level simply by wearing contact lenses.
With the advancement of such a minimally invasive and low-cost contact lens type blood glucose monitoring device, it is expected that more people will be able to easily grasp their own blood glucose levels.
The results of this research were presented at the IEEE BioCAS 2018 international conference held on October 10, 17.
