Smartphone Case Offers Blood Glucose Monitoring on the Go
From: ECN Magazine - 12/08/2017

Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a
smartphone case and app that could make it easier for patients to record and
track their blood glucose readings, whether they're at home or on the go.

The device, called GPhone, is a new proof-of-concept portable glucose sensing
system developed by Patrick Mercier, nanoengineering professor Joseph Wang,
and their colleagues at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. Wang
and Mercier are the director and co-director, respectively, of the Center for
Wearable Sensors at UC San Diego.

GPhone has two main parts. One is a slim, 3D printed case that fits over a
smartphone and has a permanent, reusable sensor on one corner. The second
part consists of small, one-time use, enzyme-packed pellets that magnetically
attach to the sensor. The pellets are housed inside a 3D printed stylus
attached to the side of the smartphone case.

To run a test, the user would first take the stylus and dispense a pellet
onto the sensor - this step activates the sensor. The user would then drop a
blood sample on top. The sensor measures the blood glucose concentration,
then wirelessly transmits the data via Bluetooth to a custom-designed Android
app that displays the numbers on the smartphone screen. The test takes about
20 seconds. Afterwards, the used pellet is discarded, deactivating the sensor
until the next test. The stylus holds enough pellets for 30 tests before it
needs to be refilled. A printed circuit board enables the whole system to run
off a smartphone battery.

The team envisions one day integrating glucose sensing directly into a
smartphone rather than a case. The work is currently at the proof-of-concept
stage. Some next steps include testing on actual blood samples and minimizing
sample volumes - the current prototype uses at least a dozen drops of sample
per test, so researchers aim to cut that down to an amount that's normally
extracted from a finger prick. They also plan to include a function in the
app that sends phone alerts reminding users to check their blood sugar.

Read the entire article at:
https://www.ecnmag.com/news/2017/12/smartphone-case-offers-blood-glucose-monitoring-go
http://cwc.ucsd.edu/content/smartphone-case-offers-blood-glucose-monitoring-go
http://jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/news/news_releases/release.sfe?id=2388
http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/feature/news_smartphone_case_offers_blood_glucose_monitoring_on_the_go

Links:
Smart Phone Case Tests Glucose
https://www.mdtmag.com/news/2017/12/photo-day-smart-phone-case-tests-glucose

Center for Wearable Sensors
http://jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/wearablesensors

Patrick Mercier
http://jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/faculty/faculty_bios/index.sfe?fmp_recid=343

Smartphone Case Can Monitor Glucose
https://www.rdmag.com/article/2017/12/smartphone-case-can-monitor-blood-glucose

Smartphone Case Monitors Blood Glucose
https://www.medicaldesignbriefs.com/component/content/article/28085