Nano Tattoo Ink Monitors Blood Sugar Levels

In the future, tattoos may be able to communicate more than just style and rebellion. Draper Laboratories of Massachusetts is developing a tattoo ink which changes color based on glucose levels inside the skin. This invention could spare diabetics from daily painful blood glucose tests.

Discovery explains how it works:

The nano ink particles are tiny, squishy spheres about 120 nanometers across. Inside the sphere are three parts: the glucose detecting molecule, a color-changing dye, and another molecule that mimics glucose. When the particles are dissolved in water they look like food coloring, says Clark.

The three parts continuously move around the inside the hydrophobic orb. When they approach the surface, the glucose detecting molecule either grabs a molecule of glucose or the mimicking molecule.

If the molecules mostly latch onto glucose, the ink appears yellow. If glucose levels are low, the molecule latches onto the glucose mimic, turning the ink purple. A healthy level of glucose has a “funny orangey,” color, according to Clark. The sampling process repeats itself every few milliseconds.

Discovery: “Nano Ink ‘Tattoo’ Could Monitor Diabetes”

Nano Tattoo Ink Monitors Blood Sugar Levels