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(구글) |
세계 최대 인터넷검색업체인 구글은 16일(현지시간) 눈물 속의 글루코스(혈당) 수치를 체크할 수 있는 콘택트렌즈를 개발했다면서 시제품을 공개했다.
구글이 개발한 콘택트렌즈는 당뇨병 환자가 손가락을 찔러 피를 낼 필요가 없이 편리하게 혈당을 체크할 수 있으며 상용화되기까지는 최소 5년이 걸릴 것으로 전망 된다.
구글의 콘택트렌즈는 초소형 혈당 센서와 무선 전송기를 이용하며 지난 18개월 동안 구글X 연구실에서 비밀리에 개발됐다.
구글X 연구실은 무인운전 차량, 구글 안경, 열기구를 띄워 외딴 지역에서도 인터넷을 사용할 수 있는 프로젝트 룬(Loon) 등을 개발한 산실이다.
콘택트렌즈에 관한 연구는 수년 전 워싱턴대학에서 미국 국립과학재단의 지원을 받아 시작했으며 네덜란드의 노비오센스 등 일부 업체들도 유사한 혈당 체크 기기들을 개발하고 있다.
미국 당뇨병학회의 드와이트 홀링 이사장은 창조적인 과학자들이 당뇨 환자를 위한 치료법을 연구하고 있는데 감사한다고 밝히고 그러나 혈당 수치 체크 기기는 정확하고 시기적절한 정보를 제공해야 한다고 경고했다.
구글 콘택트렌즈 개발팀의 수석 연구원인 브라이언 오티스는 "보기에는 대단하지 않을지 몰라도 모든 것을 소형화하는 것은 수년의 기간이 소요된 엄청난 작업이 었다"고 말했다.
팔로 알토 의료재단의 내분비전문의 래리 레빈 박사는 "구글과 같은 정보기술(IT)업체가 의학 분야에 뛰어든 것은 주목할만하다"면서 "구글은 혁신적이고 자금력이 있다"고 말했다.
전 세계 혈당 모니터링 기기 시장은 금년 말 160억 달러가 넘을 것으로 추산되고 있다.
<관련 영문 기사>
Google unveils smart contact lens project to monitor glucose
Google Inc. is diversifying into contacts lenses -- sart ones.
The Mountain View, California-based company said in a blog post yesterday that it’s testing an ocular device that’s designed to measure glucose levels in tears, as the company pursues long-term projects at its secretive X Lab research group. The lenses use a tiny wireless chip and glucose sensor to provide readings once per second, project co-founders Brian Otis and Babak Parviz wrote in the post.
Google is expanding beyond its core search-engine business by investing in new technologies that can lead to new business opportunities, including the Google Glass devices, driverless cars and high-altitude air balloons to provide wireless Internet access. The contact lenses could address the challenges of diabetes, including the process of getting readings from blood, the company said in the post.
“It’s still early days for this technology, but we’ve completed multiple clinical research studies which are helping to refine our prototype,” Otis and Parviz wrote. “We’ve always said that we’d seek out projects that seem a bit speculative or strange.”
Bloomberg News reported last week that Otis and Google employees with connections to the X Lab had met with Food and Drug Administration officials who regulate eye devices and diagnostics for heart conditions.
Otis is on leave to Google from the University of Washington in Seattle, where he is an associate professor in the electrical engineering department, according to the university’s website. Otis has worked on biosensors and holds a patent that involves a wireless powered contact lens with a biosensor.
Parviz was involved in the Google Glass project and has talked about putting displays on contact lenses, including lenses that monitor wearers’ health.
In 2012, the two were among the co-authors in a paper titled “Glucose Sensor for Wireless Contact-Lens Tear Glucose Monitoring” for the IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.
Google said in the post that it’s in discussions with the FDA and will need to do more work to make the lenses a viable product. The company said it plans to look for partners to bring devices like these to market.
The lenses may be able to act as an early warning system for wearers, Otis and Parviz said in the post. Tiny LED lights could be integrated to light up if glucose levels significantly deviate from certain thresholds, they added.
The company declined to comment beyond the post or make anyone available for interviews.
Google is committed to making bets on research and development even if they don’t deliver significant profits and revenue, Chief Executive Officer Larry Page has said.
“Our main job is to figure out how to obviously invest more to achieve greater outcomes for the world, for the company,” Page said during a call with analysts last July. “And I think those opportunities are clearly there." (Bloomberg)
