New sensor can detect glucose, cholesterol levels on dry skin

Stretchable, hydrogel-based sensor developed by researchers from NUS, A*Star

- Zhaki Abdullah

A new, non-invasive method may do away with the need to draw blood for testing blood glucose and cholesterol levels.

Researchers from NUS and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) have developed a stretchable, hydrogel-based sensor that can detect such biomarkers in a solid state on the skin.

The technology could be used in wearables for purposes such as chronic disease management and remote patient monitoring.

The team's findings were published in the scientific journal Nature Materials in June.

While traditional methods of monitoring biomarkers in fluids such as blood, urine and sweat are effective, they come with hurdles that can impede the early diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

Blood tests, for example, can be invasive and inconvenient, while sweat can be difficult to induce in inactive people.

The researchers noted that such challenges do not apply to solid-state epidermal biomarkers which include cholesterol and lactate that are found in the outermost layer of the skin.

Such biomarkers have shown strong correlations with diseases such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Outside of some scattered literature, these correlations have been overlooked for decades, said Assistant Professor Liu Yuxin from the NUS Institute for Health Innovation & Technology.