Gin Jose and University of Leeds colleagues have developed GlucoSense, a laser based glucose monitor that could eliminate the need for finger pricking.
A finger is placed against a glass window. A low-powered laser beam is projected through the window, into the finger. Surface ions fluorescence in infrared when exposed to the reflected light. (The more light that hits them, the longer they glow.) By measuring fluorescence duration, the device determines how much of the original laser light was absorbed by glucose, and can determine the amount of glucose in the bloodstream. The process takes 30 seconds.