Researchers receive grant to develop color-changing contacts for diabetics
Contact lenses that act as a glucose monitoring system for diabetics aren’t exactly a new idea, but it looks like a group of researchers from the University of Western Ontario might be a bit closer to making them a reality, as they’ve now received a $200,000+ grant from the Canada Foundation for Innovation to further develop the technology. The secret to their contacts are some “extremely small” nanoparticles that are embedded in the hydrogel lenses which, like some similar systems (such as those pictured at right), react to the glucose molecules in tears and cause a chemical reaction that changes the color of the lenses — thereby informing the wearer when their blood sugar is too low or too high. What’s more, the reseachers say the same basic idea could also have a wide range of other applications beyond glucose monitoring — for instance, being used in food packaging to indicate if the food is spoiled or contaminated.
[Thanks, Yuka]
Researchers receive grant to develop color-changing contacts for diabetics originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Dec 2009 22:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: contact lenses, ContactLenses, contacts, diabetes, diabetic, diabetics, glucose, glucose monitoring, GlucoseMonitoring, nanoparticles, university of western ontario, UniversityOfWesternOntario, UWO
Philips to unveil saliva-based roadside drug test later this year
In the vein of the breathalyzer, Philips has developed an on-the-go drug test, that can be used by the side of the road to test suspected imbibers for cocaine, heroin, cannabis, amphetamines and methaphetamine. Unlike the standard alcohol testing equipment, this one is used by having the suspect spit into a small receptacle, which is then inserted into the measurement chamber which contains magnetic nanoparticles coated with ligands that bind to one of five different drug groups, delivering color coded test results in about 90 seconds. Philips, which has been developing the device since 2001, built it as an optical device that would be easy to mass produce for law enforcement. The company expects to ship them by the end of the year, though there’s no word on exactly which markets will employ them as of yet.
[Via Coolest Gadgets]
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Philips to unveil saliva-based roadside drug test later this year originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Aug 2009 06:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: cops, drug test, drug testing, DrugTest, DrugTesting, nanoparticles, nanotechnology, philips, police, roadside drug testing, RoadsideDrugTesting