Noninvasive Mid-Infrared In Vivo Glucose Sensor

Web Published:

1/28/2014

Description:

Noninvasive Mid-infrared in vivo Glucose Sensor

Princeton Docket # 14-2945

Researchers in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Princeton University have developed a novel, noninvasive method to measure blood glucose levels. Development of this noninvasive in vivo glucose sensor may improve the quality of life for the more than 343 million diabetics worldwide who need to monitor their blood glucose levels frequently. This novel method measures glucose concentrations in dermal interstitial fluid, which is known to have excellent correlation with blood glucose levels. Accurate noninvasive in vivo glucose measurements using Quantum Cascade (QC) laser spectroscopy are described.

Using the knowledge about regions of strong glucose absorption gained from in vitro experiments, an initial evaluation of in vivo spectral differences before (low glucose level) and after (high glucose level) the consumption of 15 jellybeans (a standard test) was performed. Encouraged by the ability to detect spectral difference between high and low glucose levels in vivo, the researchers are working towards achieving the same levels of quantitative clinical accuracy that was obtained with the in vitro experiments. The researchers have recently reported that physiological glucose concentrations (50–400 mg/dL) can be determined to clinical accuracy in vitro within biological fluids such as water, serum, and Intralipid using QC laser transmission spectroscopy.

Application:

· Blood glucose measurement

Advantages:

· Noninvasive – eliminates need for finger prick

· Enhances quality of life

· Uses mid-IR light

· More reliable than complex multivariate analysis

Publications

• S. Liakat, A. Michel, K. Bors, and C. Gmachl, “Mid infrared (λ = 8.4 – 9.9 μm) light scattering from

porcine tissue,” Appl. Phys. Lett, 101, 093705 (2012).

• A. Michel, S. Liakat, K. Bors, and C. Gmachl, “In vivo measurement of light scattering from human skin,” Biomed. Opt. Express, 4(4), 520-530 (2013).

• S. Liakat, K. Bors, T. Huang, A. Michel, E. Zanghi, and C. Gmachl, “In vitro measurements of

physiological glucose concentrations in biological fluids using mid-infrared light,” Biomed. Opt. Express,

4(7), 1083-1090 (2013).

Conference Presentations

• S. Liakat, K. Bors, T. Huang, A. Michel, E. Zanghi, and C. Gmachl, “In vitro measurements of

physiological glucose concentrations in biological fluids using mid-infrared spectroscopy,” CLEO: Science and Innovations, June 9-14, 2003, San Jose, CA, USA.

• S. Liakat, K. Bors, T. Huang, A. Michel, E. Zanghi, and C. Gmachl, “Use of partial least squares

regression analysis to predict physiological glucose concentrations in vitro,” Imaging Congress: Fourier

Transform Spectroscopy (FTS), June 23-24, 2013, Arlington, VA, USA.

• S. Liakat, Z. Yu, T. Huang, L. Xu, and C. Gmachl, “Progress towards noninvasive in vivo glucose sensing in the mid-IR”, Submitted abstract to ITQW 2013, to be held in September 2013 in Lake George, NY, USA.

Faculty Inventor

Clair Gmachl is Eugene Higgins Professor of Electrical Engineering and Director of Mid-InfraRed Technologies for Health and the Environment (MIRTHE). Her research group is working on the development of new quantum devices, especially lasers, and their optimization for sensor systems and their applications in environment and health. Among the numerous honors Professor Gmachl has received are Election to Austrian Academy of Sciences as Corresponding Member Abroad (2008), MacArthur Fellow (2005), and Popular Science Magazine's list of Brilliant 10 (2004).