Research Center of Advanced Bionics (RCAB) of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), an independent administrative institution, has developed a new check-up chip for estimating blood sugar level of diabetes patients, in collaboration with Tokyo University of Technology, Katayanagi Institute.. The chip requires the least amount of blood sample in the world, allowing a patient to have measurement with less pain and in shorter time in comparison to existing devices. In this way, the patient’s burden will be reduced.

In future, efforts will be directed to commercialization and mass production in joint research with Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. The commercialization is expected to come true within a year.

Existing Glucose Chip

1. Complicated process, requiring 3 to 4 steps: printing, die-cutting, and laminating.

2. Blood sample in micro-liters ( l ) requested, causing appreciable pain.

Proposed Glucose Chip

1. A single-step process with low cost, stable characteristics, low percent defective, easy process management and eco-friendly.

2. Blood sample in nano-liters ( nl ), reducing pain for blood drawing.

3. Broader area of applications: urinary sugar sensor, multi-channel sensor, DNA chip, protein chip, etc.

An appropriate control of blood sugar level is essential for checking progress of diabetes, suppressing complications and reducing medical care expenditure. It is desirable, therefore, for a suspected diabetes patient to take blood sugar level check-up in light-hearted manner. The hitherto available glucose chip needs micro-liters of blood, which is to be squeezed out giving pain to the patient. This constitutes one of factors for making the blood sugar test unpopular.

The glucose chip developed in this project requires less amount of blood, around 200 nl, for the assessment, to alleviate both physical and mental pains on the part of patient. The chip characterized by higher performance and lower price makes the blood test more acceptable, both for a hospital and for a person. The device will eventually lead to earlier detection of diabetes, suppression of severe complication, and reduction of medical care expenditures.