Sweat sensor developed to monitor blood sugar

A team from Seoul National University (SNU) has developed a sensor which monitors blood glucose levels via sweat on the skin.

The sensor needs just one millionth of a litre of sweat to carry out the test and could be used to help patients with diabetes. The patch sticks to the skin and has three sensors to keep track of sugar levels, four that test the acidity of the sweat and a humidity sensor to analyse the amount of sweat.

The information from the sensing patch is then passed to a portable computer which displays the correct sugar levels.

The scientists have also carried out an extension of the study in mice, whereby the sensor was hooked up to a patch of microneedles which automatically injected the diabetes drug metformin in response to blood sugar changes.

The research, published in Science Advances aimed to overcome the need for ‘painful blood collection’ necessary for diabetes patients to keep track of their blood sugar levels.

The scientists highlighted: "The current system provides important new advances toward the painless and stress-free care for diabetes.”