Patent ID: 8355136

Claim:
A wearable device for monitoring the concentration of one or more target analytes, ligands, or molecules in a body fluid comprising: a conduit adapted to connect to the patient's bodily fluid; and; a sensor chip, wherein the sensor chip comprises a light transmissive substrate; a housing formed of a light transmissive material and defining at least one fluid cavity in communication with at least one fluid inlet for receiving the body fluid and at least one fluid outlet; one or more micro-cavity surface plasmon resonance (MSPR) sensors mounted on a surface of the light transmissive substrate; a light source arranged to direct light toward the MSPR sensors; and a detector arranged relative to the one or more MSPR sensors to detect their emitted light; wherein the one or more MSPR sensors are mounted randomly or non-randomly over a spatial domain of said surface; an exposed surface of each MSPR sensor is functionalized with a surface treatment, or a surface coating of a material capable of binding with the one or more targets to be detected; each MSPR sensor includes a light transmissive core formed in a geometric shape that can sustain periodic boundary conditions for a stationary surface plasmon waves to travel across the outer surface thereof; and a pinhole is defined at the interface between each MSPR sensor and the substrate; and the conduit is in communication with at least one of the fluid inlets.