Miniature sensor for healthcare

The team from the University of Florida claims early results are promising - considering that the sensor can be mass produced inexpensively with technology already widely used for making chips in mobile phones and other devices.

‘This uses known manufacturing technology that is already out there,’ said Fan Ren, a professor of chemical engineering and one of a team of engineers collaborating on the project.

The team has published 15 peer-reviewed papers on different versions of the sensor. In the most recent, the team reports integrating the sensor in a wireless system that can detect glucose in exhaled breath, then relay the findings to healthcare workers.

If fully developed, the research team is confident such a sensor could be a non-invasive replacement for the finger-prick kits widely used by diabetics.

Ren said tests with the sensor contradict long-held assumptions that glucose levels in the breath are too small for accurate assessment. That’s because the sensor uses a semiconductor that amplifies the minute signals to readable levels, he added.