Descrizione del progetto
Un analizzatore del respiro per il monitoraggio del glucosio nel diabete
Il diabete è la malattia cronica più diffusa in tutto il mondo, con pazienti che si sottopongono quotidianamente a dolorosi test dei livelli di glucosio nel sangue. Il progetto Sensor4Diabetes, finanziato dall’UE, si propone di sostituire questo approccio di monitoraggio sviluppando un innovativo sensore che misuri specifici composti nell’aria espirata dai pazienti, tra cui acetone, etanolo e nitrato di metile. Il sensore sarà funzionalizzato con diverse nanoparticelle catalizzatrici per aumentare la selettività e la velocità dell’attivazione catalitica delle molecole di gas assorbite. L’analizzatore del respiro per diabetici altamente efficace costituisce un metodo non invasivo per il monitoraggio dei livelli di glucosio nel sangue e dovrebbe comportare una svolta radicale nella gestione del diabete.
Obiettivo
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.
Campo scientifico
- 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
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinatore
EC1V 0HB London
Regno Unito