BioMEMS Glucose Sensors

Abstract

<p>Since creation of the first glucose sensor for diabetes management in the 1960s, there have been tremendous amount of research devoted to development of sensors suitable for continous in vivo measurement of blood glucose concentration. Such devices would significantly enhance life quality of patients allowing reliable continuous monitoring of their condition and timely administration of medications. Ultimately, it could be combined with an insulin pump to create automatic closed-loop system for tight control of blood glucose level.</p> <p>Analysis of modern glucometers and issues with in vivo measurements suggests the need for a novel approach for glucose sensing. This thesis describes sensors that combine microcantilever transduction paradigm with two Syntactic receptors for glucose, boronic acids and molecular imprinted polymers. These artificial ligands give invaluable advantages of being tunable and very resistant to harsh chemical conditions that would be beneficial for implantable devices. To validate the experiment design and compare results with literature, cantilever sensors with glucose oxidase, an enzyme used in conventional glucometers, were also tested.</p> <p>Cantilever sensors have got a significant attention of the scientific community during last decade. Microcantilevers have an amazing capability to link physical, chemical and biological domains with easily assessable mechanical movements. Such microscopic devices hold a promise of being versatile and very sensitive detectors, which performance scales up with miniaturization. Fabrication process is compatible with GMOS technology opening up an opportunity for low cost mass production.</p> <p>In this work, the developed glucose cantilever sensors are tested in aqueous solution of glucose and their deflections are measured using an optical lever setup.</p>