The latest sweat accessory: New ‘necklace’ biosensor has the potential to track blood sugar levels through sweat
Researchers at Ohio State University (OH, USA) have devised and tested a new battery-free, wireless biochemical sensor, demonstrating that the device could detect blood sugar from human skin when exercising.
The ‘smart necklace’ works on a resonance circuit, which reflects radio frequency signals sent by an external system, instead of a battery. During the study, the ‘necklace’ was placed around the subjects’ necks to monitor glucose levels within their sweat whilst they exercised. This exercise routine the participants took part in consisted of 30 minutes of indoor cycling followed by a 15 minute break, in which the participants drank sugar-sweetened drinks, before resuming the exercise again.
The drinks were a test for the researchers to monitor whether the new device would detect the rise in sugar levels and the results showed that the sensor tracked these changes successfully.
Jinghua Li, co-author of the study and assistant professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Ohio State University commented:
“Sweat actually contains hundreds of biomarkers that can reveal very important information about our health status,”, “The next generation of biosensors will be so highly bio-intuitive and non-invasive that we’ll be able to detect key information contained in a person’s body fluids.”
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Biomarkers are key substances in detecting the body’s health status, even picking up on elements seemingly unnoticeable at first, found in an individual’s bodily fluids. In addition to analyzing sweat, the research team believes that this sensor could one day be customized as bioimplants and used to detect neurotransmitters and hormones, which could help identify ion disorders in cerebrospinal fluid associated with secondary brain injury or even lead to a new understanding of how the brain function.
This device has the potential to become widely available to the public, due to the sensor being made out of ultra-thin materials making the product highly flexible and able to safely come into contact with a person’s skin, instead of traditional weighty and inflexible computer chips.
Li further states:
“We hope that eventually these sensors can be seamlessly integrated into our personal belongings,” she said. “Some of us may wear necklaces, some may wear earrings or rings. But we believe these sensors could be placed in something we all wear and that it could help us better track our health.”
Sources: Liu TL, Dong Y, Chen S, Zhou J, Ma Z, Li J. Battery-free, tuning circuit-inspired wireless sensor systems for detection of multiple biomarkers in bodily fluids. Sci Adv. 8(27) doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abo7049. Epub (2022), Ohio State University press release, https://news.osu.edu/smart-necklace-biosensor-may-track-health-status-through-sweat/
