By Cuda Zmuda, Middle School Student
As a Type 1 Diabetic, I am always looking out for the new technologies that are helping make living with Diabetes easier. People with Diabetes need to regularly prick their fingers to test glucose levels. I usually do it between 4-8 times a day. When you prick your fingers this much (even though the needles are pretty small), they get callouses and become harder and harder to draw blood.
I found that at Princeton University, they have created a way to change Diabetes. The researchers have created a laser to measure blood sugar. They are trying to get the laser in a portable size. The laser must be pointed at a person’s palm. Then the laser passes through the skin cells (without causing any harm), and is partially absorbed by the sugar molecules in the person’s bodies. The researchers use the amount of absorption to measure the level of blood sugar.
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Sabbir Liakat, the lead author, was very surprised to see how accurate the method is. He says, “The current version is 84% accurate.” The first model filled up a whole workbench and needed a cooling system. They now were able to solve the problem of needing a cooling system. It can now work in room temperature. They are still working on size though. This new way to test glucose could help the still growing 29 million diabetics in the U.S.A.
After further research, I found out that in Germany there are several scientists trying to do something very similar to what is being done by Princeton. They are also using a laser but what happens is that once inside the skin it sends a unique noise that is so high that only the meter can here. Using the noise the meter figures out what the glucose is.
While the technology may have a long way to go, it still gives me hope that Diabetes will be cured or be more manageable than it is now.