Graphene aptameric nanosensor for real-time insulin monitoring

This technology is a graphene-based nanosensor that can be used to monitor target insulin levels in real time.

Unmet Need: Rapid, accurate insulin monitoring

There are currently no commercially available products that allow patients with type I diabetes to directly measure their own insulin levels. Instead, they must rely on blood glucose measurements to determine when insulin injections are needed. Current approaches for monitoring insulin levels are time-consuming, require offline detection, or have low sensitivity. Since type I diabetes patients have time-varying insulin levels, an approach that could enable rapid and accurate insulin monitoring would be highly beneficial.

The Technology: Real-time insulin monitoring with high sensitivity

This graphene nanosensor is based on a field-effect transistor that uses highly sensitive nucleic acid aptamers to bind to a target analyte, which in turn causes a detectable change in the electrical properties of the graphene. The device is ten times more sensitive than currently available insulin-sensing technologies, enabling selective, real-time detection of insulin at concentrations as low as 1 nM. Thus, this technology has the potential to significantly improve the state of type I diabetes management. Additionally, this device can measure other characteristics of blood and body fluids such as gas concentration and pH.

The graphene nanosensor has been tested and demonstrated high performance while monitoring insulin concentrations between 1 nM and 500 nM.

Applications:

• Continuous insulin monitoring device for diabetes management
• Diagnostic assays for diabetes
• Research assays for detecting and monitoring insulin
• Real-time detection of low-charge, low-molecular-weight molecules
• Measuring characteristics of blood and body fluids such as gas concentration and pH

Advantages:

• Real-time detection of insulin and other low-charge, low-molecular-weight molecules
• Can detect insulin at 1 nM, exceeding the level of detection of available methods by 10-fold
• Enables accurate detection of insulin between 1 nM and 500 nM

Lead Inventor:

Qiao Lin, Ph.D.

Patent Information:

Patent Status

Related Publications:

• Hao Z, Zhu Y, Wang X, Rotti PG, DiMarco C, Tyler SR, Zhao X, Engelhardt JF, Hone J, Lin Q. “Real-time monitoring of insulin using a graphene field-effect transistor aptameric nanosensor” ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2017 Aug 3; 9(33): 27504–27511.

• Hao Z, Zhu Y, Wang X, Rotti P, Dimarco C, Lin S, Zhao X, Engelhardt JF, Hone J, Lin Q. “Real-time monitoring of insulin using a graphene aptameric nanosensor” 2017 IEEE 30th International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS). 2017 Jan 22: 398–401.

Tech Ventures Reference:

• IR CU17297

• Licensing Contact: Dovina Qu