DIGITAL HEALTH + NEUROTECH
Zhenan Bao‘s adhesive, unobtrusive wearables continue to change the way health is monitored. Her new BodyNet system tracks pulse, respiration, and other physiological signs using small, screen printed stickers around the body, and a wireless receiver clipped to clothing. The research was published in Nature Electronics last week. Her goal is to “create an array […]
John Arkwright and Flinders University colleagues have developed a tiny, low cost, fiber-optic sensor to monitor blood flow through the aorta in real-time. The goal is continuous monitoring during prolonged intensive care and surgical procedures. Current blood flow measurement, using ultrasound or thermo-dilution, is intermittent, averaging every 30 minutes. The device is inserted through a […]
MIT’s Subramanian Sundaram has developed a sensor glove that identifies objects through touch. This could improve assistive robot performance and enhance prosthetic design.The cheap “scalable tactile glove” includes 550 tiny, pressure-capturing sensors. A neural network uses the data to classify objects and predict their weights. No visual input is required. In a Nature paper, the system […]
Hatice Altug and EPFL BIOS Laboratory colleagues are developing photonic chips that count individual biomolecules and determine their location. This could identify trace amounts of undesirable biomarkers in blood or saliva and serve as an early-warning system for disease. The technology consists of an ultra-thin and miniaturized optical chip that, coupled with a standard CMOS camera […]
Riyi Shi and Purdue colleagues have developed a tiny, spinal cord-implanted, 3D printed sensor that quickly and accurately tracks glutamate in spinal trauma and brain disease. The goal is to monitor drug effectiveness, and predict migraine headaches in humans, although it has only been tested on animals. Glutamate spikes are often missed. Damaged nerve structures allow glutamate […]
John Rogers and Northwestern colleagues have developed soft, flexible, battery-free, wireless, skin-like sensors to replace multi wire-based sensors that currently monitor babies in hospitals’ neonatal intensive care units. The goal is to enable more accurate monitoring, and unobstructed physical bonding. The dual wireless sensors monitor heart rate, respiration rate and body temperature — from opposite […]
UConn chemists Islam Mosa and Professor James Rusling have developed a sensor that could detect pressure, temperature, and vibration when placed on skin. The sensor and silicone tube are wrapped in copper wire and filled with an iron oxide nanoparticle fluid, which creates an electric current. The copper wire detects the current. When the tube […]
Zhenan Bao and colleagues have developed a wireless, battery-free, biodegradable sensor to provide continuous monitoring of blood flow through an artery. This could provide critical information to doctors after vascular, transplant, reconstructive and cardiac surgery, with out the need for a visit. Monitoring the success of surgery on blood vessels is difficult, as by the […]
Microsoft has submitted a patent application for a wearable band that uses haptic feedback for stimulation when wrapped around limbs or joints. It is meant to alleviate Parkinson’s symptoms, including tremors and muscle stiffness. Haptic actuators are distributed across a band that is adjusted to a “duty cycle” which responds to data derived from wearable […]
MIT’s Bob Langer and Giovanni Traverso have developed a 3D-printed, wirelessly-controlled, ingestible capsule that can deliver drugs, sense environmental conditions, or both. It can reside in the stomach for a month. Data is sent to a user’s phone, and instructions from the phone are sent to the device. The sensor could also communicate with other wearable […]