Abstract:
The world’s diabetic patients has increased significantly in recent decades. Diabetes has become a serious global health threat. Diabetic patients need to monitor their body glucose level on daily basis. Traditional blood glucose test causes pain and infection risk to patients. Painless continuous glucose sensing has been in pressing need for a long time. Optical glucose sensing has the advantage of low-cost, no infection risk and it may lead to continuous painless glucose sensing. Optical sensors for continuous glucose sensing have been reported. In this research, a microfluidic lab-on-a-chip based on optical glucose sensing for continuous glucose monitoring is reported. It collects biological sample, mixes it with buffer fluid or test chemicals, and then drives it toward the optical sensor for glucose sensing. The optical sensor consists of a reaction chamber aligned with input and output fibers. Light transmitting through the reaction chamber interact with the glucose molecules and change its property. By sensing the light from output fiber, the glucose level in the sample can be derived. The lab-on-a-chip system also has self-flushing function to clean the chamber after each test, so that it can be ready for the next testing cycle. The function of the proposed lab-on-a-chip is verified with COMSOL simulation. The device can be used for low-cost continuous glucose monitoring.
