Descripción del proyecto
Un analizador de aliento para el control de la glucemia en la diabetes
La diabetes es la afección crónica más extendida a escala mundial, y los que la sufren deben someterse a dolorosas pruebas de glucosa en sangre a diario. El proyecto financiado con fondos europeos Sensor4Diabetes propone sustituir este sistema de control por un sensor innovador que mida compuestos específicos en el aliento exhalado de los pacientes, como acetona, etanol y nitrato de metilo. El sensor se funcionalizará con diferentes nanopartículas catalíticas para mejorar la selectividad y la velocidad de la activación catalítica de las moléculas de gas adsorbidas. El analizador de aliento diabético altamente eficaz constituye un método no invasivo para controlar los niveles de glucemia, y se espera que genere un cambio paradigmático en el control de la diabetes.
Objetivo
Health and well-being has been one of the kHealth and well-being has been one of the key societal and grand challenges identified in EC Research and Innovation programs. Diabetes is one of the most prevailing chronic health problems across Europe and worldwide. Diabetic patients experience painful blood glucose testing in daily basis which is highly inconvenient. Replacement of blood testing with non-invasive methods would bring a paradigm shift in diabetes management. Human exhaled breath consists of several traces of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) known as “breath marker”. The presence of increased amount of acetone, ethanol and methyl nitrate has been confirmed in diabetic breath by various sophisticated techniques which are not suitable for routine clinical practice or domestic use due to their non-portability, complexity, bulk-size and high costs. Metal oxide sensors have considerable potential in detecting VOCs in exhaled breath. For VOCs analysis in breath requires high sensitivity together with high selectivity. The aim of this project is to develop hybrid sensor for analyzing VOCs in breath from 1D metal oxide nanostructures functionalized with different catalytic nanoparticles. Both impedometric and photonic properties of the sensors will be measured in presence of synthetic healthy and synthetic diabetic breath. The 1D metal oxide nanostructures on sensing platform could provide high surface-to-volume ratio for surface adsorption/desorption of gas molecules together with excellent electronic and optical properties. The addition of catalytic nanoparticles on the surface of 1D nanostructures will enhance the sensitivity and response time towards VOCs by lowering the oxidation energy, increasing the catalytic surface area and catalytic activation of gas molecules. It is expected that adoption of hybrid sensing principle will enhance the selectivity towards individual VOCs which is essential for the development of highly effective diabetic breath analyzer.
Ámbito científico
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistryinorganic compounds
- natural scienceschemical sciencesorganic chemistryvolatile organic compounds
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineendocrinologydiabetes
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensors
- engineering and technologynanotechnologynano-materials
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinador
EC1V 0HB London
Reino Unido