Now, a painless ‘microneedle’ that mimics a mosquito’s bite

London: A collaborative team of Indian and Japanese scientists have created a painless “microneedle” that mimics how a female mosquito sucks blood. Suman Chakraborty of the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur, and Kazuyoshi Tsuchiya of Tokai University in Kanagawa say that their microneedle may be used to draw blood, inject drugs, and as a glucose-level monitor for diabetics. The researchers highlight the fact that a female mosquito sucks blood by flexing and relaxing certain muscles in its proboscis, which creates suction and draws blood into its mouthparts. The boffins have revealed that their microneedle – based on the same principle – has a micro electro-mechanical pump to create suction, which works using a piezoelectric actuator attached to the needle. “The needle has an inner diameter of around 25 microns and... [read full story]