Carbon nanotube based sensor safe for one year implanted under skin

11/03/2013 - 00:00

Led by postdoc Nicole Iverson, Strano’s lab has built a sensor that can monitor NO in living animals for more than a year. The sensors, described in the Nov. 3 issue of Nature Nanotechnology, can be implanted under the skin and used to monitor inflammation — a process that produces NO. This is the first demonstration that nanosensors could be used within the body for this extended period of time.

Such sensors, made of carbon nanotubes, could also be adapted to detect other molecules, including glucose. Strano’s team is now working on sensors that could be implanted under the skin of diabetic patients to monitor their glucose or insulin levels, eliminating the need to take blood samples.