DEEP TECH HEALTH + NEUROTECH
UCSD professor Sheng Xu has developed a wearable ultrasound device that can continuously monitor and assess the structure and function of the human heart for 24 hours, during normal daily activity. This could eliminate the need for highly trained technicians and bulky devices. Signs of cardiac diseases are transient and unpredictable, and imaging can detect […]
Heibei University, Tianjin Hospital, Beihang University, and Penn State researchers have developed an under nose-worn, stretchable, skin-friendly, waterproof sensor to analyze breath for health monitoring. It could be use for multiple-condition screening, asthma and COPD management, or environmental hazard sensing, among other applications. The functional gas sensor, in a moisture-resistant membrane, can operate in humid […]
UCSD Professor Joe Wang and colleagues have created a multiple biomarker monitor in the form of a painless microneedle patch, which Wang calls a “complete lab on the skin.” Glucose, lactate and alcohol levels are monitored simultaneously, in real time. Microneedles enable the direct sample of interstitial fluid, which provides a similar measure of biochemical […]
Stanford’s Michael Snyder and colleagues have used smartwatch data to detect early, presymptomatic COVID-19 in 31 individuals out of a cohort of 5,000. They demonstrated that COVID-19 infections are associated with alterations in heart rate, steps and sleep in 80% of cases. Physiological alterations were detected prior to, or at, symptom onset in 85% of […]
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 […]
Wenya He, Yingying Zhang, and Tsinghua and Northwest School colleagues have developed a silk-based wearable patch which measures glucose, ascorbic acid, lactate, potassium, sodium ions and uric acid concentrations in sweat. Sensors are embedded in a woven graphite-silk fabric. Conductivity is enhanced using graphite doped with nitrogen atoms. The flexible patch is applied to the […]
FIGUR8 has commercialized MGH/MIT Media Lab research to create a sensor and algorithm to measure and track body movement as a biomarker. The wearable creates a movement baseline, diagnoses dysfunction, identifies injury risk, optimizes exercise routines and tracks progress. During movement, the sensor quantifies muscle activity and joint mobility, and the algorithm analyzes more than […]
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 […]
IBM researchers are studying grip strength, which is associated with the effectiveness of Parkinson’s drugs, cognitive function in schizophrenics, cardiovascular health, and elderly mortality. To better understand these markers, Steve Heisig, Gaddi Blumrosen and colleagues have developed a prototype wearable that continuously measures how a fingernail bends and moves. The project began as an attempt to […]