Nowadays, smart phones integrate many devices and have more and more powerful features, including GPS, barometric sensing, depth perception, and so on. However, for diabetics, the blood glucose meter is still a separate device. Many scientists are trying to integrate the blood glucose meter into our daily use of smart phones to meet the needs of the user's daily activities in blood glucose monitoring.
Scientists from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) have developed a smart phone case and applications to help those in need to record and track their blood sugar conditions at home or on the road.
Integrating a blood glucose measurement into a smartphone is naturally a great benefit. First of all, naturally, it is not necessary to carry an extra blood glucose meter when you go out. Patrick Mercier, a professor from the Department of Electronics and Computer Science at UCSD, said, "The additional benefit is that the phone can automatically store, process, and send blood glucose data to healthcare workers or cloud services."
The device, called GPhone, is a new proof-of-concept portable glucose sensing system developed by Mercier, professor of nanoengineering Joseph Wang and colleagues at the University of California, San Diego School of Engineering. Wang and Mercier are director and deputy director of the wearable sensor center at the University of California, San Diego. Their team published the study in Biosensors and Bioelectronics.
GPhone has two main parts. One of them is a thin, light-weight 3D-printed case suitable for smartphones with a permanent, reusable sensor in one corner. The second part is a small, single-use, and magnetic ball attached to the sensor. The balls were placed in a 3D printed stylus, which was attached to the side of the smartphone case.
During the test, the user first takes out the stylus and places a small ball on the sensor. This step activates the sensor. Then, the user will drop a blood sample on it. The sensor measures glucose concentration and then wirelessly transmits the data via Bluetooth to a custom-designed Android application that displays the numbers on the smartphone screen. The test takes about 20 seconds. The discarded ball is then discarded and the sensor deactivated before the next test. The stylus can hold enough 30 balls to test before needing to be refilled.
A printed circuit board enables the entire system to run the smartphone's battery.
These balls contain a glucose oxidase that reacts with glucose. The electrical signal produced by this reaction can be measured with the sensor's electrodes. The stronger the signal, the higher the glucose concentration. The team tested the system in different solutions with known glucose concentrations. In multiple tests, the results given by the system are accurate.
Designed on Android phones, APP shows test results. Image source: UCSD
One of the key innovations in design is reusable sensors. In a glucose sensor previously developed by the team, the enzyme was permanently placed on the electrode. The problem is that the enzyme is depleted after several uses. The sensor will no longer be valid and must be completely replaced. Putting the enzyme in a separate ball is a good solution to this problem.
Wang said: "The system is widely used and can be easily modified to detect other substances and can be used as medical, environmental and defense applications." At the same time, the system stores a large amount of data so that users can track them for a long time. Blood glucose readings.
The team imagined that one day the glucose sensor would be integrated directly into the smartphone instead of a shell. This work is currently in the proof of concept phase. Some of the next steps the team will take include testing the actual blood sample and minimizing the sample size. They also plan to include a feature in the application that sends cell phone alerts to alert users to check blood sugar.
We expect that with the continuous efforts of scientists, blood glucose testing will be integrated into smartphones as soon as possible to bring more convenience to the majority of people with diabetes.
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