Tiny tattoos could help diabetics ditch needles

[SoCalDem]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33831728/ns/health-diabetes/

Tiny tattoos could help diabetics ditch needles
New sensor acts like a mood ring for glucose levels in mouse experiments

Julia Balobeck
Balobeck family photo
"It would make my life a ton better if I didn’t have to prick my fingers anymore," says 8-year-old Julia Balobeck.



By Linda Carroll
msnbc.com contributor
updated 5:09 a.m. PT, Fri., Nov . 13, 2009

Eight-year-old Julia Balobeck needs to prick her fingers so many times each day that the tips of her digits have started to turn numb and black. Even at her age, she understands that the needle sticks are crucial to keep track of her blood sugar levels and manage her Type 1 diabetes, but she’d really like someone to find a better way.

Help may be on its way for Balobeck and other diabetics who must jab themselves as many as 10 times each day to get that critical drop of blood that will reveal glucose levels and indicate whether a shot of insulin is needed.

Scientists are starting to test a kind of sensor that changes color with rising blood sugar levels. The high-tech tattoo, which is about the size of the clicker on the end of a ballpoint pen, is made up of tiny spheres that are injected into the outermost layer of skin. These nanospheres contain a special kind of ink that reacts with glucose, explains the tattoo’s inventor, Heather Clark, a biomedical engineer at Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, Mass


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[annabanana]

1. What a great advance that would be!

It would also allow caregivers to know when insulin is needed for older patients.

[SoCalDem]

2. It could be on the wrist, so people could check it like a wristwatch

My husband would love it:)

[izquierdista]

3. Good for Draper Lab

It's about time they quit thinking about better ways to kill people.

[divineorder]

4. I hate pricking my fingers too.

What I like about developments like this is that you it's like having a meter on you all the time-anytime you need to check, it's there, painless.

[izquierdista]

7. I heard about this years ago

People have been thinking about this kind of a sensor (in practical, not sci-fi terms) for at least 10 years. But when they are handing out grant money, radar reflective coatings for the F-22 gets in line WAY before sub-dermal glucose sensors.

[gwsuperfan]

10. Contacts also-

could change color depending on glucose levels. These ideas have been kicking around for years, but I doubt that they are projected to be sufficiently profitable to justify development.

[WhollyHeretic]

5. That's a great idea

:thumbsup:

[Th1onein]

6. How wonderful!

I wonder how long it's going to take them to get this to the general public?

[Jokinomx]

8. My wife has been a diabetic for over 40 years......and

she remembers being told as a 9 year old that a "cure" was only 5 or 10 years away. She has heard countless reports and claims of great medical breakthroughs only to have her hopes fade as we find out that it's all dreams.

I hope this works, it would make the daily life for my wife a little easier, but where is the cure?

At age 10 my youngest daughter was diagnosed with diabetes and you know what the nurse told her...

"Don't worry, they are only a few years away from a cure!".... she is now 21 and learning not to listen to the predictions.

I am beginning to believe the medical profession doesn't want a cure. I am sure diabetic costs use up a significant portion of our health care budget.

[gwsuperfan]

9. Testing supplies are a gold mine

At $1/strip it's like printing your own money. Why would corporations give up that cash cow?