LA JOLLA, Calif. (KGTV) – New technology from the UC San Diego Nano-Engineering lab will make it easier for people with health problems to monitor their critical numbers.
“This is the future, indeed,” says Dr. Joeseph Wang, the Director of the Nano-Engineering Lab at the school.
“This is the first example where you can do, on a single wearable patch, blood pressure as well as continuous glucose, alcohol or any other chemical biomarker,” he says.
The patch uses Ultrasound to monitor things like blood pressure and heart rate. It also analyzes sweat to look for things like blood sugar, lactate, and alcohol.
“I think this device is the first one that can make those two measurement modalities on the same platform,” says Dr. Sheng Xu, one of the professors who helped create the patch.
The patch would send information to a smartphone, allowing people to continuously check their critical numbers. It could be a game-changer for people with diabetes, who would no longer need to draw blood to test for glucose.
It would also make telehealth easier.
“You can analyze the patient remotely without going to the lab or to the clinic,” says Dr. Wang. “This way it will transmit the data to the caregiver to the doctor. You’ll get all the information without having to leave your home.”
Researchers are still working on the device to make it more affordable and easier to mass-produce. It also needs wide-scale testing and FDA approval. They think it could be on the market in a few years.
For more information, visit UC San Diego’s website.