Author: Joel Harrison
Posted: 13 July 2010 15:39
Numerous research centres around the world are conducting studies to develop contact lenses with integrated electronic circuits. In the future, such lenses might replace many traditional devices that provide us with information about both the world around us and the world inside our bodies. One such project focuses on lenses that monitor the level of blood sugar. The lenses will be equipped with a glucose biosensor and change colour if a significant drop or increase in blood glucose level occurs.
Normally, diabetic patients need to use glucose meters, which require a drop of blood to ascertain the current glucose level. Such painful and inconvenient tests could become a thing of the past if the research carried out by University of Western Ontario Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering is successful.
The new contact lenses will have an additional advantage over the traditional glucose meters. Namely, they will monitor blood sugar level constantly, not at specific intervals prescribed by doctors. Since sudden changes in glucose level are not uncommon, this may prevent serious complications that diabetics are in danger of every day, including diabetic coma.
