DEEP TECH HEALTH + NEUROTECH
A source has told DigiTimes that Apple supplier ASE Technology will manufacture ambient light sensors for AirPods. This could be used to monitor step count, head movement, and heart rate. It could also track blood oxygen levels — a key metric in detecting COVID-19. The shift from consumer-grade to less-obtrusive medical-grade health monitoring at scale […]
University of Tokyo’s Takao Someya has developed a very thin sensor, worn around the finger or arm, which measures pulses and scans fingerprints and vein patterns, which can prevent identification errors in hospitals and nursing homes. It consists of a thin film transistor and an optical sensor, based on Takao Someya, on a sheet, allowing […]
Joseph Wang is the SAIC Endowed Chair professor, Chairman of the NanoEngineering Department and Director of the Center for Wearable Sensors at University of California, San Diego, and Editor-in-chief of the journal Electroanalysis. A prolific researcher with more than 1,200 papers and 100,000 citations, he recently developed an ultrasound patch to monitor blood pressure; self-propelled and targeted drug delivery; and continuous […]
Imperial College’s Martyn Boutelle has developed a 3D printed, remote-controlled Lab on a Chip for real-time monitoring with improved personal care. Previous ‘Lab on a Chip’ devices have required large external support systems. Sensor deterioration over time inhibited their clinical effectiveness. The device can monitor chemical fluctuations, giving quicker and more accurate results, and potentially […]
Zhenan Bao has developed stretchable, degradable semiconductors, with the ability to conform to internal organ surfaces, and dissolve and disappear when no longer needed. This is the first example of a material that simultaneously possesses the three qualities of semiconductivity, intrinsic stretchability and full degradability. Other attempts resulted in semiconductors that either did not break down […]
Caltech’s Wei Gao has developed a wearable sensor that monitors metabolites and nutrients in blood by analyzing sweat. Previously developed, less sensitive, sweat sensors mostly target electrolytes, glucose, and lactate. Gao develops devices based on microfluidics, which minimize the influence of sweat evaporation and skin contamination on sensing accuracy. Previous microfluidic-based wearable sensors were mostly fabricated with a […]
John Rogers, Yonggang Huang and Northwestern colleagues have developed an “epidermal VR” system that adds a sense of touch to any virtual reality experience. The device incorporates a distributed array of 32 individually programmable, millimeter-scale actuators, each of which generates a discrete sense of touch at a corresponding location on the skin. Each resonates most strongly […]
UCSD’s Joe Wang has developed a soft, flexible, pacifier-based biosensor that continuously monitors glucose levels in saliva to detect diabetes in babies. Until now, continuous glucose monitoring in newborns, available only in major hospitals, requires piercing the infant’s skin to reach interstitial fluid. The team created a proof of concept pacifier where small amounts of saliva […]
Imperial College’s Timothy Rawson has developed a non-invasive microneedle bionsor patch capable of detecting antibiotic levels in the body. The goal is to reduce the need for blood sampling and analysis, optimize dosage, reduce drug-resistant infections and offer personalized drug delivery, both inside and outside of the hospital. A recent study showed that the accuracy of the real-time […]
Northwestern’s John Rogers has developed a biodegradable optical sensor that can be implanted after brain injury and not require a second surgery for removal. According to Rogers: “Optical characterization of tissue can yield quantitative information on blood oxygenation levels. Fluorescence signals can reveal the presence of bacteria as a diagnostic for the formation of an […]