According to data from the 2014 National Diabetes Statistics Report, over 9.3% of the American population has diabetes, and over 8.1 million cases were undiagnosed. Patients with the disease have to watch their blood glucose levels and the traditional way was through finger pricking and test strips. But researchers at the University of Leeds, UK have developed a device that uses a low-power laser that reads the levels without needing to puncture the skin. Professor Gin Jose, who help develop the device, said, “This will allow people to self-regulate and minimize emergency hospital treatment. This wearable device would then be just one step from a product which sends alerts to smart phones or readings directly to doctors, allowing them to profile how a person is managing their diabetes over time.” The device uses a Nano-engineered silica glass that uses ions to read the concentration of glucose in the patient’s blood. The glass is similar to the glass used on smartphones, making the device cheaper for hospitals and patients.
