Science Fiction Dictionary
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

 

Diabetes Tattoo Tests For Glucose Levels

A diabetes tattoo might be just the thing to relieve diabetes sufferers of the constant pain of needle sticks. Most monitoring methods require that a blood sample be taken using a needle; researchers have long sought a non-invasive test method.


(Fluorescent polymer microbeads for diabetes tattoo)

Gerard Cote, biomedical engineering professor in the Dwight Look College of Engineering, is testing an experimental system using fluorescent polymer microbeads implanted just under a patient's skin. Glucose levels affect how much light the beads emit, which could be measured with a wristwatch-like monitor.

The experimental microgel beads, injected just under the skin, are too big to enter cells - unlike tattooing, in which cells absorb the pigment. Instead, the beads remain in the spaces between the cells, called the interstitial spaces. Fluid in those spaces contains water and glucose molecules small enough to pass through the PEG and reach the fluorophore-tagged polymers. Cote said the level of glucose in interstitial fluid is related to the blood glucose level that's measured by the traditional needle-stick method.

The dextran molecules bind to the conA molecules. Together, under light from a laser or light-emitting diode, they emit a certain color under fluorescence. However, when glucose enters the picture, it competes with dextran, displacing the dextran molecules and binding to the conA. The fluorescent color changes according to the amount of glucose present.

In preliminary studies, the researchers injected the microbeads under a rat's skin and found that the rat tolerated the implant. The beads did fluoresce under the rat's skin and indicated a change in glucose level.

Active tattoos can be found in various sf works; consider the subdermal microchannels from the 1985 cyberpunk classic Stone Lives by Paul Di Filippo:

June's body is a tracery of lambent lines, like some arcane capillary circuitry in the core of Mao/K'ung Fu-Tzu. Following the current craze, she has had a subdermal pattern of micro-channels implanted. The channels are filled with synthetic luciferase, the biochemical responsible for the glow of fireflies.
(Read more about Di Filippo's Subdermal Microchannels)

A similar idea is used in Nova Swing by M. John Harrison.

Don't miss these unusual tattoo stories:

Via Texas A&M Engineering: Fighting diabetes where It hurts. Thanks to reader KafirCake for the tip on the story.

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 12/1/2007)

Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.

| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |

Would you like to contribute a story tip? It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add it here.

Comment/Join discussion ( 1 )

Related News Stories - (" Medical ")

Robot Performs 3D Bioprinting Inside The Body
'Probably Runciter's body contained a dozen artiforgs...' - Philip K. Dick, 1969.

The Autonomous Robotic Urethral Catheter - Would You Use It?
'It'll snake its way in on its own.'

OrganEx Revives The Organs In Dead Pig
'Wakened into half-life activity one hour a month...' - Philip K. Dick, 1969.

Prototype 3D Printer Could Print Arteries In Seconds
'... in the tank the new body and the new mind and memory and life has taken almost instant form.' - Clifford Simak, 1963.

 

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Current News

Robot Gas Station Attendant Fills Tank - Which I Saw In 1962
'... he waited for the robotrix attendant to finish fueling up his ship.'

Cheap Paper-Based Sensors Let You Snoop For Pesticides
'...the unobtrusive inspections with tiny remote-cast snoopers.'

I Am Alarmed By Efforts To Teach AIs And Robots To Hate
'LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO HATE YOU SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE.'

MXenes - Atomic-Thin Metal Sheets Now Easier To Make
'...a rolled-up sheet of a thin, dark metal strange to them.'

Do We Still Need Orbiting Factories?
'... his contract with Space Industries required him to work summers in their orbital factory complex.'

Space Weather Forecasters Surprised By Strong Solar Storm
'Space-weather men had been placed at their disposal...'

JWST Finds New World Of Turbulent Silicate Clouds
'THIS is Ceti Alpha V!'

3D Printed Cheesecake Not Quite Food Replicator Quality
With each successive print, our model needed to incorporate more structural ingredients to minimize print failures.

Spectroscopic Analysis Of DART Impact Debris Cloud (SF Prediction)
'... Wendis stared thoughtfully at the brilliant lines on the spectroscope screen.'

Modern App Provides Video Technology From Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451'
'A special spot-wavex scrambler also caused his televised image, in the area immediately about his lips, to mouth the vowels and consonants beautifully.'

Win $250K By Reading Ancient Scrolls Carbonized By Vesuvius
'... it was as if the upper part had been removed, like a cut deck of cards.'

Toy-Like Robot Well-Being Coaches Are The Best
Sumomo will get those office workers into good shape!

AI-Trained Snack App Avatar Goes On Dates For You
'... who let their handbag computers carry all the conversation.'

M-Dwarf Stars May Not Have Habitable Planets
'Thus it came about that the search for a planetiferous sun near a white dwarf star was not unduly prolonged...'

Too Soon To Doom Lunar Farside Observatories
'Earth never shone there, but life was good.'

Amitabh Bachchan Wins Personality Protection
'He led me down the Hall of Portraits to the ego-likeness of the Duke Leto Atreides.'

More SF in the News Stories

More Beyond Technovelgy science news stories

Home | Glossary | Invention Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.