According to scientists from Australia, a painless blood sugar spit test for diabetics may soon become reality. This non-invasive strip checks the person’s glucose levels through their saliva.
Blood sugar management for diabetics usually involves pricks in the fingers, several times per day with a lancet, and then putting the drop of blood onto a testing strip.
And, to avoid this painful process, many diabetics minimize the tests they take.
New Pain-Free Glucose-Checking Strip
This new spit test functions by embedding an enzyme that detects glucose into a transistor which later transmits the presence of glucose, explains Paul Dastoor, a professor of physics at the University of Newcastle in Australia who’s also the team leader.
Dastoor adds that these tests are pain-free and low-cost and should help improve the outcome for diabetics. The saliva contains glucose and this glucose concentration follows our blood glucose.
Low-Cost Option that’s Easy to Produce
However, as it’s around 100 times lower, the scientists had to create a test that is easy to produce, doesn’t cost a fortune, and it’s 100 times more sensitive than the standard tests.
Dastoor notes that since the electronic materials in the transistor are inks, the tests can be made using low-cost printing at a massive scale using a reel-to-reel printer, like making newspapers.
The project got A$6.3 million in funding from the Australian government to establish a facility where the test kits will be produced, if the clinical trials are passed.
Interestingly, Dastoor emphasizes that this tech could be used for COVID-19 testing, allergen testing, as well as hormone and cancer testing.
In fact, the university is already collaborating with Harvard on a test for COVID-19 that will use this tech.
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