Dr Nienke Bosschaart of the University of Twente (UT) has received funding through the Open Technology Programme (OTP) of the Dutch Research Council (NWO). With this funding, she and her team are developing a new optical method to measure haemoglobin levels in the blood without taking a blood sample. In the future, the technology could contribute to more patient-friendly blood measurements, particularly for vulnerable patients.
Measuring haemoglobin is important for diagnosing conditions such as anaemia and monitoring patientsâ health. For newborns and critically ill patients, regular blood sampling can be burdensome. In addition, only a limited amount of blood is available from these patients.
Bosschaart and her team from the Biomedical Photonic Imaging research group are therefore developing a non-invasive method based on light. By analysing how light behaves as it passes through tissue and blood, they can obtain information about the amount of haemoglobin present.
Measuring without a needle
With the new technology, Bosschaart and her team aim to make it possible to measure blood parameters without taking a blood sample. In the future, this could be particularly valuable for patients who require regular blood tests.
The research is part of Bosschaartâs broader work on optical technology for healthcare. Among other things, she is developing new methods for non-invasive blood analysis and applications in maternal and neonatal care.
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