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 For diabetics, managing their blood sugar levels typically means
pricking their fingers multiple times a day with a lancet and then
placing a drop of blood on a testing strip. Understandably, some
diabetes sufferers avoid the painful process by minimizing their
tests.
However, this latest test works by embedding an enzyme that detects
glucose into a transistor that can then transmit the presence of
glucose, according to Paul Dastoor, Professor of Physics at the
University of Newcastle in Australia, who led the team that created
it.
Since the electronic materials in the transistor are inks, the test
can be made through printing at a low cost, Dastoor said.
"The holy grail of glucose testing has been something that is
non-invasive," said Dastoor.
"[This test] really does open up the prospect of pain-free, low-cost
glucose testing and hopefully much better outcomes for diabetes
sufferers," he said.
The new test, Dastoor said, was created by chance as scientists were
working on solar cells.
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The project secured A$6.3 million ($4.7 million) in funding from the
Australian government to establish a facility to produce the test
kits should clinical trials be passed.
Dastoor says the technology could also be transferred to COVID-19
testing and allergen, hormone and cancer testing.
The university is already working with Harvard University on a test
for COVID-19 using same technology, but it's the implications for
other testing that has the physicist excited about the potential for
the sensors.
"I think its going to radically change the way we think about
medical devices and in particular sensors because we can print these
at remarkably low cost," said Dastoor.
($1 = 1.3360 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Stefica Nicol Bikes; Writing by Colin Packham; Editing
by Christian Schmollinger)
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