Researchers Develop Smart Tattoo Ink for Health Monitoring

Researchers at Harvard and MIT have developed smart tattoo ink that detects dehydration and changes in blood sugar levels, the New York Daily News reports.

There are currently no plans to develop DermalAbyss as a product or to pursue clinical trials, but researchers created the ink to show the possibilities of continuous monitoring without painful procedures such as the daily piercing of skin to observe glucose levels.

"The purpose of the work is to light the imagination of biotechnologists and stimulate public support for such efforts," said Nan Jiang, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. "These questions of how technology impacts our lives must be considered as carefully as the design of the molecular sensors patients may someday carry embedded in their skin."

The inks change color depending on the chemistry of the sodium, glucose, pH and hydrogen ions present in the interstitial fluid and are weightless and can be used without electricity or charging.

"We were thinking: New technologies, what is the next generation after wearables?" Ali Yetisen, a Tosteson postdoctoral fellow at Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital, added. "And so we came up with the idea that we could incorporate biosensors in the skin."

• Detection of Ripples in Space, 'New Era of Greater Insights'
• US, Russia to Collaborate on Lunar Space Station