MIPS Project Challenge:
There are 422 million individuals with diabetes worldwide. Diabetes affects many organs and leads to microvascular increased risk of macrovascular complications and premature death. Adequate glycemic control is the most critical part of diabetes management. This is achieved by daily blood glucose measurements and adjustments in type, number and dose of anti-diabetes medications, if needed. Although the self-monitoring of blood glucose is important, the gold standard for the assessment of long-term glycemic control is the blood test glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c). The American Diabetes Association recommends the measurement of HbA1c every 3-6 months. The disadvantages of this test include the lack of testing shortterm glycemic control, the requirement of blood draws, and HbA1c is inaccurate in chronic renal disease and hemoglobimopathies. Measurement of glycated albumin (GA) has been proposed as an alternative marker for glycemic control. Since the turnover of albumin is only 2-3 weeks, GA could potentially provide a bimonthly update on glycemic control. The Smart Albu is a portable hand-held device that noninvasively detects the ratio of salivary GA over total albumin (HSA). This MIPS project is focused on determining whether the Smart Albu represents a precise, non-invasive clinical measurement of short-term glycemic control (2-3 weeks) by comparing the ratio of GA and HSA in saliva with the same ratio in blood and HbA1c.

Project Scope:
Fuzbien has successfully developed a unique, CNT-based, nano-platform technology for the novel antigen detection of various biomarkers. The purpose of this research is to utilize and test this ultrasensitive, nanotechnology-based antigen detection system for detecting salivary-glycated albumin. The results of this research are anticipated to be a method of accurately and inexpensively measuring glycated albumin to provide a means of measuring blood glucose levels.