Biosensors

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The process of monitoring blood glucose levels through finger pricking is an inconvenience at best for the estimated 26 million diabetics in the U.S. It's no mystery why researchers have continued to set their sights on developing more convenient and less invasive methods of monitoring glucose levels, including tear-based glucose sensors and non-intrusive contact lenses. Now, Brown University researchers are throwing their hats in the ring with a new kind of biochip that could allow diabetics to monitor their glucose levels using saliva.
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Systems for monitoring vital signs while driving could help measure stress levels, among other health parameters — effectively "driving" the concept of multi-tasking to a new level. By integrating sensors into the steering wheel, scientists at TU Muenchen Chair of Micro Technology and Medical Device Technology (MiMed) have managed to circumvent the laborious wiring of the driver. The data collected is radioed to a microcontroller, which in turn can show the measurement results on the vehicle information system display.

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CardioMEMS (Atlanta, GA), a graduate of Georgia Tech's ATDC startup accelerator, is pioneering a new class of heart monitoring devices, based on a sensor that measures intracardiac pressure in people who suffer from congestive heart failure. The company completed a successful clinical trial in May of 2010 for its second product, which resulted in a $60 million equity investment and purchase option from St. Jude Medical Inc. (St. Paul, MN).

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Universities are a breeding ground for innovation, but in order for those innovations to benefit the public, they must progress beyond the theoretical or prototype level — which requires adequate funding. A promising development was recently announced in California: Five teams of scientists from the University of California and a Southern California hospital have been awarded up to $100,000 to help commercialize their up-and-coming medical technologies. Across the board, the ideas fit into the trend of lower-cost, preventive health care. Let's take a look at the winners.

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Sensortechnics (Walpole, MA) offers LBA differential pressure sensors based on thermal mass flow measurement of air or gas through a micro-flow channel integrated within the silicon sensor chip. The LBA series offers pressure ranges from 25 Pa (0.1 inH₂O) Full Scale in addition to the existing 250 Pa and 500 Pa ranges (1 and 2 inH₂O). The sensors perform fully analog on-chip CMOS signal conditioning.
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Engineers are taking important steps toward a future in which skin-mounted electronics could monitor individuals in a natural environment and even offer the potential for human-computer interfacing — all with the flexibility and comfort of a temporary tattoo.

Researchers at the University of Illinois and Northwestern University recently developed a type of patch with a circuit that bends, wrinkles, and stretches with the mechanical properties of skin. The patches are mounted on a thin sheet of water-soluble plastic, then laminated to the skin with water, like a temporary tattoo.

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Finger pricking may be a means to an end for diabetics who need to track their blood glucose levels, but it's a pain — both literally and figuratively speaking. They say that necessity is the mother of invention, and the necessity for a better alternative to the finger-pricking method is cropping up some pretty neat innovations. Two are highlighted here. One of them is a nanosensor "tattoo," while the second is a near-market method that targets tear fluid as a non-invasive source of information.

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