Wearable microneedle patch offers real-time diabetes tracking

A groundbreaking wearable device is set to change how diabetes is managed through personalized, real-time care. Developed by researchers in Israel and China, the microneedle-based system offers a new level of patient support. It lets doctors and patients track disease markers and medication levels at the same time, without drawing blood. The device works in real time and is painless, providing critical health data through the skin's interstitial fluid.

Professor Hossam Haick of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology led the research with Sun Yat-sen University colleagues. Their findings were recently published in the scientific journal Nature Communications, highlighting the system’s breakthrough potential. The technology helps people with diabetes avoid improper dosing by showing how their body responds to treatment immediately.

Diabetes affects over half a billion people worldwide and continues to grow at a fast and worrying rate. In the United States, the CDC estimates that nearly 40 million people are living with the condition. In Israel, about 435,000 people have been diagnosed with diabetes, and 200,000 more likely remain undiagnosed.

The United Nations classifies diabetes as a global epidemic due to its rising numbers and serious health impact. Diabetes causes high blood sugar, which can lead to many serious health problems if not properly managed.

Managing diabetes means keeping blood sugar in range and ensuring medications like metformin work as intended. Current monitoring tools are often invasive and only give brief readings instead of full, continuous feedback. These tools also fail to account for personal differences in how people process and respond to medications.

This lack of precision can lead to dangerous spikes or drops in blood sugar, like hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia. Most diabetes treatments follow standard doses without adjusting for changes in metabolism, diet, or stress levels.

That’s where the microneedle-based Continuous Biomarker/Drug Monitoring (MCBM) system comes in. This new device blends medical technology with mobile connectivity to create a small, painless patch that sticks to the skin and continuously samples interstitial fluid, the layer of fluid just beneath the skin’s surface.

The patch contains tiny, 3D-printed microneedles. These are coated with nanoenzyme-based sensors that can detect glucose and metformin concentrations with high accuracy. Rather than relying on blood tests, the system analyzes the skin’s interstitial fluid, which reflects changes in the body nearly as quickly as the bloodstream.

Data is sent wirelessly to a smartphone app via Bluetooth. The app doesn’t just display readings—it performs live pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic analysis, adjusting recommendations based on how the user’s body is reacting to both their illness and the drug.

When something unusual is detected, like a sharp drop in glucose or a drug level that’s too high, alerts are sent immediately. Professor Haick describes the breakthrough simply: “Through continuous monitoring of both the disease state and the treatment agent, the system allows unprecedented real-time control of treatment.”

To test the system, the researchers first validated it in laboratory settings. They then moved to in vivo trials, using diabetic mice to compare the new readings with traditional tools like ELISA tests and handheld glucose meters. The MCBM system not only aligned with these gold-standard tools but also picked up on fluctuations that the older methods often missed.

What makes this system even more powerful is its ability to recognize that not all bodies react the same. In their animal trials, researchers showed that the same dose of metformin created different drug profiles depending on the subject’s weight, age, and metabolic rate. These kinds of differences are hard to manage without constant feedback—but with the MCBM system, doctors and patients could now adjust treatments accordingly.

Being able to detect low or high drug levels instantly is especially important for preventing complications like lactic acidosis, a rare but serious condition that can cause dizziness, nausea, and even liver failure. With this technology, the risk of such side effects may be lowered through real-time dose adjustments.

Beyond treating diabetes, the team believes their wearable platform could be adapted to treat other chronic illnesses. Because the sensing chemistry is customizable, future versions might track medications and disease markers for conditions like heart disease, epilepsy, or even cancer.

The system already aligns with broader trends in smart healthcare, which combine wearables, artificial intelligence, and precision pharmacology. As Haick puts it, this is “a new chapter in dynamic, personalized, real-time disease management.”

Paper co-author Professor Changqing Yi adds, “This work brings us closer to an era where wearable devices will not only tell you what's happening in your body but will also guide your treatment in real time.”

This new approach reflects a shift in how doctors think about treating chronic disease. Instead of treating symptoms after they appear, the MCBM system helps patients and doctors manage illness before things go wrong. That’s a big step toward more precise, safer, and more effective care.

The microneedle device created by researchers in Israel and China proves that real-time drug and disease tracking is not only possible—it’s practical and accurate. Its simple design, easy smartphone connection, and real-time analytics make it a promising tool for millions living with diabetes.

With further testing and development, wearable technology like this may become a standard part of managing many diseases. It’s already clear that one-size-fits-all treatment is no longer enough.

What patients need is smart medicine that sees them as individuals—and helps them take charge of their own health, day by day, in real time.

Note: The article above provided above by The Brighter Side of News.

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