Researchers create sugar-powered sensors to detect, prevent disease

Making disease diagnoses easier, researchers have created a new sugar-powered sensor that can detect, prevent and diagnose diseases easily.

Researchers from the Washington State University have made an implantable, biofuel-powered sensor that runs on sugar and monitor a body’s biological signals in order to detect, prevent and diagnose diseases.

As per the research published in the journal IEEE Transactions of Circuits and Systems, the sensor harvests glucose from body fluids to work. This sensor could also remove the need to prick a finger for testing diseases such as diabetes.

Scientists create sugar pills to help robots navigate in body

“The human body carries a lot of fuel in its bodily fluids through blood glucose or lactate around the skin and mouth. Using a biofuel cell opens the door to using the body as potential fuel,” said lead researcher Subhanshu Gupta.

As per researchers, the electronics in the highly sensitive sensor uses unique design and fabrication to consume only few microwatts of power. Pairing these electronics with the biofuel cell makes the sensor more efficient than the usual battery-powered devices, reported Science Daily.

Also, the sensor can be powered indefinitely since it rums on body glucose. Because the sensor is entirely non-toxic, it is more promising to be used as an implant for people. The unique sensor is more stable and more sensitive than traditional biofuel cells. The sensor is also cost-effective and can be manufactured cheaply through mass production, as Gupta claimed.

Though the sensors have already been tested in the lab, for the future the researchers hope to test and demonstrate them into blood capillaries, but that will require regulatory approval. Meanwhile, the researchers are working together to further enhance and increase the power output of their biofuel cell.

“This brings together the technology for making a biofuel cell with our sophisticated electronics. It’s a very good marriage that could work for many future applications,” expressed Gupta.