New tech: MIT researchers develop non-invasive glucose monitor
By HME News Staff
Updated 9:20 AM CST, Tue December 30, 2025
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - A team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has used Raman spectroscopy to develop a shoebox-sized device that can measure blood glucose levels without any needles, MIT News reports. In tests in a healthy volunteer, researchers found the device’s measurements were similar to those of a commercial continuous glucose monitor, which requires a wire to be implanted under the skin. “For a long time, the finger stick has been the standard method for measuring blood sugar, but nobody wants to prick their finger every day, multiple times a day,” says Jeon Woong Kang, an MIT research scientist. “Naturally, many diabetic patients are undertesting their blood glucose levels, which can cause serious complications. If we can make a noninvasive glucose monitor with high accuracy, then almost everyone with diabetes will benefit from this new technology.” Researchers recently published their work using Raman spectroscopy, a technique that reveals the chemical composition of tissues by shining near-infrared or visible light on them, in the journal Analytical Chemistry. While the device is too large to be used as a wearable sensor, researchers have since developed a smaller version about the size of a cell phone that they are now testing in a small clinical study of healthy and prediabetic volunteers. Next year, they plan to run a larger study working with a local hospital that will include people with diabetes. Researchers are also working on making the device even smaller – about the size of a watch.
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