"Now Without Needle Pricks" ... UNIST Develops Electromagnetic Wave Sensor for Blood Glucose Measurement Without Blood Draw

Professor Byeongjae Byeon’s Team Develops Implantable System for Continuous Blood Glucose Monitoring

Perpetual Use Without Lifespan Limit, Published in Scientific Reports

Oral glucose tolerance test scene using a dog.

Implantable electromagnetic wave-based blood glucose measurement method.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Kim Yong-woo] You can check blood sugar without pricking with a needle? Does that even make sense?

A new technology has emerged that can measure blood sugar without drawing blood. It involves implanting a measuring device under the skin and using "electromagnetic waves" to detect changes in blood sugar levels. The technology is designed for permanent use and has been researched to have high accuracy.

This is a groundbreaking technology that can alleviate the pain of diabetic patients who have to prick their fingers multiple times a day to measure blood sugar.

UNIST (President Lee Yong-hoon) announced on the 31st that Professor Byun Young-jae’s team from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering developed an "implantable electromagnetic wave-based blood glucose monitoring system" that measures blood sugar without drawing blood.

The sensor of this system is about one-fifth the size of a cotton swab and detects changes in blood sugar in the interstitial fluid, which is the tissue fluid filling the spaces between skin cells.

It not only overcomes the short usage period drawback of existing continuous glucose monitoring devices but also offers higher accuracy in reflecting blood sugar, making it highly promising for commercialization.

Diabetes is a condition where the blood sugar level in the blood remains above 126 mg/dL, higher than the normal fasting level of 100 mg/dL. Diabetic patients need to control their meals to maintain normal levels, so they prick their fingertips multiple times a day to draw blood and check their blood sugar. More than 400 million diabetic patients worldwide suffer daily pain and inconvenience from blood sampling.

As an alternative to blood sampling-based blood sugar measurement, enzyme- or fluorescence-based blood glucose measurement technologies have also been developed. However, the enzyme-based method, which measures electrons (current) produced when glucose in the blood reacts with glucose oxidase converting hydrogen peroxide into oxygen, does not require blood sampling but has a short enzyme lifespan, leading to decreased accuracy over time.

The fluorescence-based method, which is based on the fact that the wavelength of light changes with blood glucose levels, also suffers from reduced luminescence over time, resulting in lower accuracy.

Professor Byun Young-jae’s team created a semi-permanent implantable blood glucose monitoring system using "electromagnetic waves," which have no lifespan limitations.

Unlike enzyme-based sensors that require weekly replacement, this system is convenient and can drastically reduce the cost of continuous glucose monitoring systems (CGMS). It is expected to increase the current CGMS adoption rate, which is only about 5%.

Another strength is that it is an "implantable" device inserted under the skin into subcutaneous fat. It is not affected by external environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, or movement, which enhances the accuracy of blood sugar measurement. The sensor is designed to be 30 mm in length with a circular circumference of 4 mm and is wrapped in a biocompatible polyolefin-based packaging material.

From the left, Researcher Kim Seong-mun, Professor Byeon Yeong-jae, Dr. Jagannath Malik.

Professor Byun Young-jae explained, "Thanks to the advantages of being implantable, the accuracy of blood sugar measurement can be improved to meet FDA standards. Once implanted, it can be used semi-permanently, and because it operates on low power, blood sugar can be checked anytime using devices with NFC (Near Field Communication) functionality or smartphones."

The system’s sensor links the unique permittivity of blood sugar components with changes caused by electromagnetic waves. When the sensor operates, the electromagnetic wave area generated around it detects changes in permittivity.

Kim Sung-moon, first author and integrated master's and doctoral course researcher at UNIST’s Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, explained, "If blood sugar rises, permittivity decreases, and at this time, the sensor’s frequency increases. Using this, real-time blood sugar measurement is possible."

The research team verified the system’s ability to measure blood sugar by attaching it to animals. Whether glucose was directly injected into veins (IVGTT) or orally administered and digested (OGTT), both showed similar trends between blood sugar and frequency.

Professor Byun said, "The newly developed device uses 'electromagnetic waves' that do not degrade over time, making its lifespan virtually permanent. In the future, we plan to develop it into a continuous glucose monitoring system by integrating the system into a single chip inside the sensor."

This research was conducted in collaboration with SB Solution Co., Ltd., a faculty startup company at UNIST. The results were published in "Scientific Reports." SB Solution was founded in 2017 based on the electromagnetic wave blood glucose measurement technology developed by Professor Byun Young-jae, and the related system is currently in the commercialization stage.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.