UC San Diego has made an important technical advance in its effort to develop a tiny biosensor that could be placed beneath a person’s skin for long-term alcohol monitoring in patients being treated for substance abuse.

A team led by engineer Drew Hall created a prototype of the sensor that worked when it was placed in a simulated environment in the laboratory.

The device now has to be refined so that it can be tested in live animals and, eventually, humans.

Hall is trying to create a low-power sensor that can be injected blow the surface of the skin, where it would draw power from a smartwatch or some other type of wearable device.


“A tiny injectable sensor—that can be administered in a clinic without surgery—could make it easier for patients to follow a prescribed course of monitoring for extended periods of time,” Hall said in a statement.

Hall is collaborating with Dr. Carla Marienfeld, an addiction psychiatrist at UC San Diego, and CARI Therapeutics, a startup that’s operating out of the university’s Qualcomm Institute.