Researchers from the University of Western Ontario receive grant to develop color-changing contacts lenses that act as a glucose monitoring system for diabetics. They might be a bit closer to make them a reality as they have received a $200,000+ grant now from the Canada Foundation for Innovation to develop this technology.
The secret to their contacts are extremely small nanoparticles which are embedded in the hydrogel lenses that like some same systems (like those pictured at right), react to the glucose molecules in tears and cause a chemical reaction which changes the color of the lenses. When their blood sugar is too high or too low then thereby, informing the wearer. The reseachers said that the same idea could have a wide range of other applications also beyond glucose monitoring but for instance, being used in food packaging to indicate if the food is contaminated or spoiled.
The nanocomposite hydrogel lenses could render those pesky e-waste-generating blood-glucose meters obsolete that will allow diabetics to monitor potentially life-threatening variations without missing a thing in their sugar levels.
From the Canada Foundation, Professor Jin Zhang received $216,342 for Innovation on Wednesday to develop the multifunctional nanocomposite technology further that has applications from measuring pathogenic contamination in produce to improve the biodegradability of food packaging.
So, I wish this would be beneficial for diabetics.
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