Bitte wählen Sie ihr Lieferland und ihre Kundengruppe
The goal of this program is to develop of small and sensitive nanosensors for the continuous glucose monitoring in living tissue without the need for drawing blood. A major advantage of the transdermal sensors we are developing is to directly detect glucose itself not the byproducts of its transformation. The technique we use surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is based on light and informs on the presence of glucose on or nearby metallic nanosensors. In Year 1, we have worked on the development of i) sensitive nanosensors, ii) selective capture layers that can be immobilized onto metal surfaces, and iii) the integration of both. We have successfully developed a novel SERS nanoplatform that integrates gold nanorods with biocompatible hydrogels of variable stiffness. The fabrication of SERS-active microneedle patches has been successfully initiated and demonstrated over the first 12 months of the programs using stiff hydrogels. Several approaches have been taken and validated against SERS activity. Implementation of the glucose-capture layers in underway. We have shown that water-soluble molecules can diffuse through the hydrogel pores and be detected in the mM range, where glucose is physiologically relevant. These results are very promising regarding SERS-active transdermal patches.