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Monday, 31st July 2006 (6355 views)

A scientist at the University of Central Florida is researching an innovative method of testing blood-sugar levels using gold nanoparticles.

Assistant professor Florencio Hernandez has found that placing a teardrop in a gold-salt solution will generate gold nanoparticles, which can then be read through a spectrophometer.

This will reveal the concentration of gold particles, which is proportional to the level of sugar. "It's so simple, it's wonderful," said Hernandez.

The process is fairly straightforward because the spectrophotometer is smaller than a CD and the reaction of the teardrop and the gold solution is visible to the naked eye.

Also, the test has benefits over the conventional system that requires many diabetics to have daily finger pricks in order to get a sample of blood. This can be painful, especially for young children.

"I hope in two to three years to have prototypes out and that someday you'll be able to go to a grocery store and test your sugar," Hernandez said.

The gold particles can also detect the amount of sugar in urine and blood, but teardrops give the best results.

Testing blood-sugar levels is the latest in a long line of uses for gold in scientific research. Researchers at the University of Toronto recently used gold electrodes in creating a new kind of efficient semiconductor.

 

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