Almost all the diabetics in the world are aware of the pain and inconvenience of finger-prick blood tests to monitor their blood glucose levels. But there is some good news for such people. GlucoSense, a device developed by Prof. Gin Jose and his team at the University of Leeds simply uses a laser beam to do this and that too without pain.

There is a small glass window on the device where the patient places his/her pad of finger. A low-power laser beam is then projected in to the finger through this window, some part of which is absorbed by the glucose in the bloodstream and some is reflected back to the window. Ions on the window glass surface glow in infrared when exposed to this reflected light – the more this light hits them the longer the duration of their glow. The duration of this flourescene is measured and on the basis of this, a processor in the device determines what part of the original laser light was absorbed by the glucose and thus indicating the amount of glucose in the bloodstream.

Hopefully, the two versions of this device- a computer mouse-sized table top unit and a wearable device to measure glucose continuously will be commercially available after a period of clinical trials and commercial development by the spinoff company GlucoSense Diagnositcs. Prof. Jose opines: “As well as being a replacement for finger-prick testing, this technology opens up the potential for people with diabetes to receive continuous readings, meaning they are instantly alerted when intervention is needed.”

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Author:Technology Blog