The next generation of devices for personal healthcare monitoring will comprise molecular sensors to monitor analytes of interest in the skin compartment. Transdermal devices based on microneedles offer an excellent opportunity to explore the dynamics of molecular markers in the interstitial fluid, however good acceptability of these next generation devices will require several technical problems associated with current commercially available wearable sensors to be overcome. These particularly include reliability, comfort and cost. An essential pre-requisite for transdermal molecular sensing devices is that they can be fabricated using scalable technologies which are cost effective. We present here a minimally invasive microneedle array as a continuous monitoring platform technology. Method for scalable fabrication of these structures is presented. The microneedle arrays were characterised mechanically and were shown to penetrate human skin under moderate thumb pressure. They were then functionalised and evaluated as glucose, lactate and theophylline biosensors. The results suggest that this technology can be employed in the measurement of metabolites, therapeutic drugs and biomarkers and could have an important role to play in the management of chronic diseases.

中文翻译：

---

用于个人医疗保健监测的透皮设备的快速、低成本原型设计。


下一代个人医疗保健监测设备将包括分子传感器，用于监测皮肤区室中感兴趣的分析物。基于微针的透皮设备为探索间质液中分子标记的动力学提供了绝佳的机会，然而，这些下一代设备的良好可接受性将需要克服与当前市售可穿戴传感器相关的几个技术问题。这些特别包括可靠性、舒适性和成本。透皮分子传感设备的一个重要先决条件是它们可以使用具有成本效益的可扩展技术来制造。我们在这里介绍一种微创微针阵列作为连续监测平台技术。提出了这些结构的可扩展制造方法。微针阵列经过机械表征，并显示在中等拇指压力下可以穿透人体皮肤。然后将它们功能化并作为葡萄糖、乳酸和茶碱生物传感器进行评估。结果表明，该技术可用于代谢物、治疗药物和生物标志物的测量，并可在慢性病的管理中发挥重要作用。