Biomedical engineers at Texas A&M University say they have cut the cost of one key ingredient in an experimental injectable glucose sensor to about a tenth of what it was, without losing performance in laboratory testing, according to a report from the university's communications office published Tuesday.
The findings appear in a study in the journal ACS Measurement Science Au. The researchers stress that the device is a proof of concept, not a product, and still requires further work and testing before any clinical use.
How the sensor works
Many glucose monitors depend on enzymes; this design does not. It reads glucose through near-infrared fluorescence: a protein called concanavalin A, or ConA, holds a glowing sugar compound, and as glucose levels climb, glucose molecules push that compound off the protein's binding sites. The shift in the light signal tells the sensor how much glucose is present, the university said.
Earlier versions of the technology used a compound called α-mannopentaose. After testing several options, the team found that β-mannopentaose, a far cheaper material, gave similar results, including in artificial interstitial fluid made to imitate conditions under the skin, according to the report.
The sensing chemistry is packed into a small hydrogel meant to be injected and rest beneath the skin, letting glucose pass through while holding the sensing materials in place. In a seven-day test, over 94% of the sensing assay stayed inside the gel, the university said.
