Two years ago, Baylor University researcher Randall Jean, PhD, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, developed an electromagnetic sensor that provides diabetics with a noninvasive alternative to read their blood glucose levels. There was just one problem: it was too big to carry around. Now, Jean and colleagues have developed a sensing method that uses a circuit board small enough to make the device portable. To measure glucose levels, users simply press part of their hand or finger against the sensor. Baylor researchers took daily samples of 31 people over the course of several months and compared those samples to levels measured by an over-the-counter commercial sensor. They found that the noninvasive sensor has the potential to achieve the same or better accuracy than current commercial sensors — many of which require a blood prick. “We have taken the device to the point where it justifies a significant investment,” Jean says. “The probability of success is very high.”

The sensor uses electromagnetic waves to measure blood glucose levels in the body as energy goes from the sensor through the skin and back to the sensor. The microwave frequency range is wide enough to isolate the effect of sugar in the blood and minimize the characteristics of other tissue, such as body fat and bone, which could alter accurate readings, Jean explains. Using electromagnetic waves is relatively safe because they do not ionize the body’s molecules like X-rays can do, he adds. Jean holds a patent for the general measurement method, called ultra wideband pulse dispersion spectrometry. Baylor has applied for a provisional patent as it pertains to noninvasive glucose monitoring. The researchers plan to conduct further tests on a wider diabetic population.

Source: Medical News Today

Posted May 5th, 2010 under Tech Transfer

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