Claire Gmachl, Kevin Bors and Sabbir Liakat test a laser-based glucose-sensor. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)
PRINCETON RESEARCHERS have developed a way to use a laser to measure people’s blood sugar, and, with more work to shrink the laser system to a portable size, the technique could allow diabetics to check their condition without pricking themselves to draw blood.
“We are working hard to turn engineering solutions into useful tools for people to use in their daily lives,” said Claire Gmachl, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Electrical Engineering and the project’s senior researcher. “With this work we hope to improve the lives of many diabetes sufferers who depend on frequent blood glucose monitoring.”
In an article published June 23, 2014, in the journal Biomedical Optics Express, the researchers describe how they measured blood sugar by shining their specialized laser — called a quantum cascade laser — at a person’s palm. The method exceeded the accuracy required for glucose monitors, said Sabbir Liakat, the paper’s lead author and a graduate student in electrical engineering. The team is now working on making the device smaller and portable.
Besides Liakat and Gmachl, researchers included Princeton undergraduate students in electrical engineering Laura Xu (Class of 2015), Callie Woods (Class of 2014) and Kevin Bors (Class of 2013); and Jessica Doyle, a teacher at Hunterdon Regional Central High School. Support for the research was provided in part by the Wendy and Eric Schmidt Foundation, the National Science Foundation, Daylight Solutions Inc., and Opto-Knowledge Systems.
–By John Sullivan
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