The first open-source DeSci hardware project - an implantable continuous glucose monitor.

Symbiont Labs is building an implantable continuous glucose monitor. It's placed beneath the skin, typically in the arm, and boasts a lifespan of over two years! This would be invaluable for patients with diabetes who need to measure their blood sugar daily.

Current alternatives involve either daily finger pricks or costly short-term glucose monitors, which need replacement every two weeks for $80 each time. Our project would be a significant improvement over the current solutions.

Diabetes is one of the biggest costs to the health care services, costing over 400 billion a year in the US alone. Introducing an affordable, long-lasting monitor that provides hassle-free readings empowers users to better manage their condition, directly translating to saved lives and reduced strain on healthcare resources. This is why we are building the CGM-X.

This is the first (of hopefully man) open-source hardware project in DeSci. The monitor can also be used for conducting research studies (ie can your blood sugar level variability be useful for predicting biological age) and allows this research to be conducted in an open, inclusive, and accessible manner. We also envision a lot of non-diabetes users for this device given the recent trends of wearable technology.

It is an open-source NFC-driven optical glucometer. It's a circuit and sensor array enclosed within a biocompatible glass cylinder, similar to the Eversense E3 CGM which recently received FDA approval.

While we've finalized the design and produced an early prototype, further refinement is needed. We're excited to have garnered interest from volunteers eager to test our device in its early stages!