IU researchers help develop diabetes breathalyzer

INDIANAPOLIS — Researchers at IU Indianapolis are helping develop a new device that could be a game changer for people with diabetes.

Monitoring blood sugar is so crucial for the 40 million people living with diabetes in the U.S. This new research took inspiration from our K-9 friends.

Dogs are trained as service animals to use their sense of smell to detect when their owner’s blood sugar is getting to low and alert them. The researchers took this notion to develop a breathalyzer that tests blood sugar.

Current options for testing this involve pricking the finger to get a blood sample or using a glucose monitor that requires putting a sensor under the skin.

The breathalyzer uses sensors to detect chemicals in the breath that correlate with blood glucose levels. Research so far shows it has a detection accuracy rate of 90%.

Mangilal Agarwal is the director of the Integrated Nanosystems Development Institute at IU Indy. He’s on the team working the device. He said creating something that is showing such promising success is a dream come true.

“We spend time in the lab to do something new and there are many challenges to solve those issues, but once we can solve and bring that to the market, it’s really good, good feeling,” he said.

Mark Woolam, a senior research scientist, said they took breath samples from campers at Camp John Warvel based here in Indianapolis. This is a summer camp run through the American Diabetes Association that provides a safe camp experiences for kids who have diabetes.

He sees this new breathalyzer as being another tool people with diabetes can have in their toolbox.

“We are not trying to replace continuous glucose monitors or finger pricks,” he said. “It’s going to complement these technologies to give the patient more options for testing and more information in an on-demand fashion.”

The actual device was developed by PreEvnt, a subsidiary of Scosce Industries, in collaboration with IU.

The breathalyzer won a medical innovation award at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas back in January, which Agarwal said was exciting and affirming for them.

Agarwal said they have a prototype made and have licensed the technology. Now they have to go through a clinical trial and get FDA approval before it can go to the market.

Read more about the development of the breathalyzer here.