Release date: 2016-11-10
In recent years, more and more people with diabetes have been around. It is predicted that by 2032, approximately 600 million people worldwide will have diabetes. For people with diabetes, it is important to keep abreast of changes in blood glucose throughout the day. However, most blood glucose meters currently on the market measure blood glucose in a minimally invasive manner, and each time the blood glucose is measured is relatively large, depending on the patient's self-control. Therefore, measuring blood sugar every day becomes the most painful thing for diabetic patients.
Google smart contact lens prototype
Many companies want to revolutionize traditional methods of measuring blood sugar, and develop a non-invasive, real-time blood glucose meter that automatically records data, including Google's previous smart contact lens program. In 2014, Google announced a smart contact lens that detects blood sugar through tears. However, the thunder and rain of this project was small, and it was lost without taking out the product.
It is quite difficult to determine the glucose content in the blood by detecting the glucose content in the tears. At present, no scientists have announced a very clear correspondence. In addition, the concentration of glucose in the tears is very low, so the accuracy of the microsensor is extremely high. Finally, the size of the device and the comfort of wearing it all become a problem. After all, many people are very resistant to contact lenses, let alone a larger electronic device.
Under the numerous challenges, Google’s smart contact lens disappeared in 2015. Many people think that even Google can't make a decision. Using tears to measure blood sugar can only be a mirror. However, when everyone had no hope of measuring blood sugar with tears, the Dutch company NovioSense announced in 2015 that they used tears to measure blood sugar, micro-invasive, non-rechargeable, real-time monitoring of blood glucose sensors successfully tested in mice, and passed clinical Pre-test. In October 2016, NovioSense announced the completion of its fourth round of financing to fund the next phase of human clinical trials for tear sensor devices. The specific amount was not disclosed in this financing, but investors include Health Innovations, Topfonds Gelderland, and Fraunhofer. Ventures and NovioTech.
Our equipment will provide painless continuous blood glucose monitoring for all diabetic patients at a favorable price, NovioSense CEO Christopher Wilson said in a statement that users can use us by utilizing the NFC technology that most smartphones have. The painless, non-invasive sensor platform is connected to a smartphone to continuously monitor glucose data.
Like Google's smart contact lenses, NovioSense believes that the glucose content in the tears can be used to predict the body's blood sugar. Because the human body's tears continue to wash the eyeball, it is possible to monitor blood sugar levels in real time. But unlike Google, the teardrop sensor developed by NovioSense is not pie-shaped, but like a small stick.
The picture above is a device developed by NovioSense to measure blood sugar using tears. This small stick is a small flexible spring measuring 2 cm long and 1.5 mm in diameter. The entire device is coated with a soft hydrogel layer. This stick needs to be placed under the conjunctiva of the eye. The flexible material allows the stick to automatically adjust to the curvature of the lower eyelid of the wearer. The hydrogel layer can reduce the friction between the device and the eye, protect the surface of the eye from irritation and improve the wearing comfort. At the same time, the tear film of the human body will continuously wash the lower eyelids, and the small sticks can obtain biomarkers for monitoring the changes of tear sugar.
The source of tears is more complicated. When exposed to external stimuli (emotion, foreign body, onion, yawning), the composition of tears varies greatly. Therefore, the accuracy of measuring the tears around Google’s smart contact lenses is greatly disturbed. Because NovioSense's sticks are placed under the conjunctiva, only the most basic tears between the lower eyelids and the tear film are measured, so the accuracy of the measurement can be improved.
In July 2015, Noviosense teamed up with the Mayo Clinic in the United States, the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, and the long-time supporter of NFC technology, Gentag, a joint venture to establish a joint venture to replace the traditional blood glucose meter. Explore system management of insulin delivery based on smartphone systems. The core of this system is this little stick.
NovioSense uses the low-power and highly sensitive ASIC technology developed by the Institute in Duisburg, Germany, and NovioSense to detect tears. Take a closer look at this stick and you will find it consists of three wires around a microelectrochemical cell. The first is that the green wire is the working electrode, and the surface is coated with a curing enzyme. This enzyme can convert the glucose in the tear fluid into gluconic acid, and the FAD on the surface of the curing enzyme and the electrons and hydrogen in the glucose combine to become a reducing property. FADH2.
When FADH2 encounters oxygen molecules in the air, it produces a short-lived hydrogen peroxide molecule. When this hydrogen peroxide molecule touches the surface of the green wire, it turns into water and produces a weak current. The red and blue wires sense the current and convert the electrical signal into an RF signal that can be transmitted to the outside world via a nano-transceiver chip built into the "small stick". A smartphone or insulin pump with NFC technology. By accepting the signal, it is possible to monitor and regulate blood sugar in real time. The current life of the stick is two weeks, and NovioSense hopes to extend its life.
For now, NovioSense's sensor for detecting tears is indeed a big step forward than Google's smart contact lenses. No matter from the comfort of wearing, the size of the device, the battery and so on, there have been many improvements, but for the most critical issue, how NovioSense completes the leap from tears to blood sugar is still in an uncertain state. NovioSense said it will release data on Phase II clinical trials for the device in the first half of next year and expects the device to be available in 2019.
Maybe only then will we know that this company can complete Google's unfinished mission and truly develop a non-invasive, accurate real-time monitoring of blood sugar to benefit people with diabetes.
Reference material
[1]http://
[2]http://noviosense.com/test-page-4/
Source: Singularity Network
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