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Monday, December 5. 1988 / University Daily Kansan
KU team works to develop device to help diabetics
By Mark Fagan
<ansan staff writer
A sensor less than a millimeter in diameter could mean a world of difference to diabetics.
The sensor, being developed by a group of five KU students and a professor, would for the first time reliably measure the amount of blood sugar in diabetics, thus allowing them to better control the disease that affects 7 million people in the United States.
The sensor, which could be ready for humans in five years, would reduce the side effects of diabetes, said George Wilson. Takeru Higuchi distinguished professor of chemistry and pharmaceutical chemistry and head of the project.
Diabetes is the third-leading cause of nonaccidental deaths and the leading cause of blindness in the United States. It also can lead to organ failure.
There are many researchers out there
Rhauna Norfleet/KANSAN
concentrating on what causes diabetes?</td></tr><tr>Wilson said. "But the fact remains that once someone has diabetes, you have to figure out how to do something about those bad side effects."</td></tr></table>
George Wilson and Dilber Bindra.
The sensor would be part of a package resembling an artificial pancreas, which would include an insulin pump, a measurement and readout module and a device to control the pump. In all, it would weigh less than a pound.
"You want the patient to be able to move around," he said. "The pump could be the size of a pack of cigarettes. Who knows, we could develop a pump that could be implanted beneath the skin and the censor could send its information with radio waves. We're not really sure how it's going to work out."
Wilson said the basis for the system would be the needle-like sensor, less than a millimeter in diameter. It would be inserted beneath the skin and would monitor sugar levels in three- to four-day intervals.
Wilson said the sensor's size was important.
They wouldn't have to give themselves影子 anymore, he said. "You'd just have to get them."
Paul Reith, an endocrinologist at Watkins Memorial Health Center, said the system would be a great help for diabetics.
"It has to be something that you'd look at and say, 'Would you want to stick this in your arm?'" Wilson said. "If you make something that's too big, they're going to say, 'Hey, that's not for me. No matter how good that thing is, I'm not doing it.'"
Reth said he knew of 57 KU students, faculty and staff who had diabetes. He said the disease was often overlooked.
But no matter how many there are, he said.
the disease is tough to control. Diabetics must exercise, take two to four shots a day and limit their diet to control the level of blood sugar.
“It’s hard work. It’s not easy.” Reith said.
“I don’t think a lot of students realize it’ like a one-hour course, only you don't get credit for it.”
Work on the project began five years ago. The KU team, headed by Wilson and aided by Diber Bindra, New Delhi, India graduate student, and Brian Hill, Seattle graduate student, worked on the sensor before sending a lab in France for tests in laboratory rats.
The research has been financed primarily by a $22,932 grant from the National Institutes of Health. The grant was for three years and will end in March 1989. Wilson is also requesting more than $1 million in additional funds for the project for the next five years.
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