

Researchers create tattoo that tracks sodium and glucose via iPhone - jerrelp
http://bostinnovation.com/2011/07/22/northeastern-creates-tattoo-that-tracks-sodium-and-glucose-via-an-iphone/

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pshc
_> All diabetics could now measure their glucose levels without having to take
a finger-prick_

All of my investment dollars. Take them.

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peterb
If this works, and scales, then it will be fantastic. It will also be
disruptive to the ~$450B diabetes industry.

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tomjen3
How much of that is type 1?

Because I doubt type 2 diabetics would have much benefit from this.

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dabent
Many Type II diabetics need to test their blood sugar levels as well.

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peterb
Right and most hate doing it because it hurts, so they don't. This will make
it painless (after getting the tattoo) to continuously monitor your blood
sugar level. Sweet (pun intended).

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jules
Does anybody know why they prick in the part of the finger used for touching?
This seems like one of the most sensitive parts of the human body.

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jkic47
According to Dr. Bernstein, the fingertips show an immediate response to
changes in blood sugar. I lent the book out or I'd provide the full
explanation he gave.

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templaedhel
As a type I diabetic, I use both my forearm and my finger tip for testing.
While I find both to be almost painless (admittedly I may have built up a
tolerance) arm does hurt slightly less, and more importantly, does not callus
like the finger tip. However, in times of rapid blood sugar fluctuation, arms
are delayed by about 10-20 minutes, where as fingers are not.

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tomjen3
Interesting, I assumed the delay would be more like a few seconds or half a
minute at most.

Still, why not do it on the side of the finger? It has to be as updated as the
tip, but it has a lot less nerve endings.

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templaedhel
Sides hurt (me) more. Don't ask why, no idea. I know some doctors suggest the
sides, for that exact reason however.

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Ronkdar
There's a lot of major things here.

1) Tattoo is invisible. No stigma attached. 2) No blood drawn for testing for
various materials 3) If processing and power get consolidated onto the phone,
this will be massively portable and accessible to the masses, assuming they
manufacture large quantities of the case.

Currently, the iPhone is basically just a camera chassis. You could achieve
the same effect by building a case for your cheap little Canon Powershot,
which has the benefit of including a removeable SD card.

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skimbrel
Yes, the iPhone is currently just a camera chassis, but it's a network-enabled
camera chassis. As the article said, they want to write an iPhone application
to do the analysis immediately instead of offloading it to a desktop computer.
If the processing is too heavy, the iPhone still has the advantage of being
able to zap the image off to a server that can munge it and return the
results. Easier than schlepping an SD card back to your PC.

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Someone
Using an iPhone still feels like a clumsy solution. I think the real
application will use some ASIC in your insulin pump to do the processing, and
immediately adjust the dosage.

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bh42222
_The specialized solution is made up of 120-nanometer-wide polymer droplets.
The droplets consist of a fluorescent dye, sensor molecules designed
specifically bind to certain target molecules (in this case, sodium or
glucose) and neutralizing ions._

Hmm.... could this turn into a more generic approach of antibody based tattoos
which could detect a large range of things, including bacterial and viral
infections?

And the exam would consist of you snapping a picture of your arm every morning
which is automatically sent to a Watson like computer for analysis. (Well it
wouldn't have to be Watson level AI, it's either positive for something or
not.)

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streptomycin
Yep. Also in this class of ideas are little chips floating around in your
blood that automatically release drugs when they recognize a pathogen, and
stuff that makes your poop change color when it notices bad things happening
(seriously, this exists).

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briggsbio
This is pretty fantastic. So very many applications for such a technology.
Obviously the primary indication for the technology in its current stage of
development, quantifying blood sugar levels, is in and of itself, a large
enough market to make this attractive. But this is early stage.

Consider the possibilities for the next stages of development:

\- Advancing the formulation to obviate the need for a "tattoo." The next
generation could be a solution simply applied to the skin that would penetrate
deeply enough over a short period of time to test blood glucose without the
need for a tattoo. The real time, point-of-care diagnostic frontiers, cost
reduction, and other factors implied here are phenomenal.

\- The article mentions glucose, sodium, and oxygen levels in the blood. The
"sensor molecules" simply bind to the target molecule or ion and change the
fluorescence, providing a reading. Think about the applications for other
ions, lipids, amino acids, and even proteins and cytokines using antibodies.
Molecular binding assays are prevalent across many, if not most, diagnostic
assays. This could have application in such a wide range of indications it
boggles the mind.

\- Combining the testing to assess for multiple diagnoses in the same test.
Think of a kind-of multiplex assay (such as an ELISA) in a single unit. iPhone
aside (which is an awesome way to do it), think of a single unit that applies
50-100 small droplets of solution on the skin and sends a focused LED for
testing each droplet individually (think of a bunch of small capillary straws,
instead of the hundreds of needle pricks such as in an allergy test).

Glucose for diabetes: check.

Sodium for evaluation of electrolyte levels, kidney and adrenal function,
cystic fibrosis disease state: check.

Bacterial infection (nosocomial infections especially, like MRSA), viral
infections, toxin screening, hepatitis, rheumatic disorders, cancer, the list
goes on and on...

Again, fantastic.

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TheEzEzz
This sounds awesome, and the potential to monitor other chemical levels is
even more exciting. My concerns:

Do the polymers wear out? Presumably they are binding to the target chemical.
Can they rebind afterward? Does the body clear out the polymers at all?

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allenp
Does anyone know if this could be used to detect alcohol levels?

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briggsbio
I would think it certainly could. Whether it SHOULD, depends on the reason for
testing blood alcohol levels:

Blood alcohol vis-a-vis alcohol intoxication: With widespread use of
breathalyzers, I don't know if this technology would be an improvement. Having
to get a tattoo to test for blood alcohol levels seems overkill (at least the
tattoo would be necessary in the current stage of the technology's
development). While not perfect, available technology (IMO) seems to be doing
a sufficient job.

Liver disorders, cirrhosis, hepatitis, other liver disease: There are other
diagnostics more appropriate than testing for blood alcohol content (BAC)for
these. Ethanol is metabolized by the liver relatively quickly.

There may be applications for testing blood alcohol, but I don't think this
technology is enough of an improvement to make it viable. A doctor may
disagree. That is just my opinion.

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allenp
Oh I was thinking the ink would be worth $$$ for tattoos that only show up
when you're drinking - like little details like flames that appear around an
otherwise unadorned area, etc.

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btcoal
We're getting so close to that tricorder I can taste it. Keep it up guys!

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stretchwithme
This is huge for diabetics. Not only will this alleviate some of their
suffering, but it will make it easy to compare how the bodies of both
diabetics and non-diabetics react to sugar. That will help optimize medication
and help prevent overdosing on insulin.

My dad actually lost his vision to diabetes, which began a downward spiral of
inactivity and isolation and eventually life in a nursing home. If he had been
tightly monitored, that could have been prevented.

