Microneedle patches help monitor body chemicals

Diabetics need to carefully monitor their glucose levels consistently, and the future is brighter for them with the possibility of having said glucose levels being monitored round the clock instead of getting it done at one point in time, courtesy of researchers who hail from North Carolina State University, Sandia National Laboratories, and the University of California, San Diego. The latest device that might prove to be quite the medical breakthrough would see the incorporation of sensors into multiple microneedles, where each of these are less than a millimeter long, and will turn today’s glucose analyzers obsolete – kiss goodbye to annoying skin prick tests!

The new microneedles will be able to do more than just measure glucose levels, but rather, almost any other chemical in the body as well. These hollow needles will come loaded with electrochemical sensors which are capable of sniffing out specific molecules. At the moment, these sensors have been customized to detect glucose, pH levels, and lactate, and are read by a scanning electron micrograph.