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Category: wearables

Microneedle-based integrated pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic evaluation platform for personalized medicine

Precision and personalized medicine for disease management necessitates real-time, continuous monitoring of biomarkers and therapeutic drugs to adjust treatment regimens based on individual patient responses. This study introduces a wearable Microneedle-based Continuous Biomarker/Drug Monitoring (MCBM) system, designed for the simultaneous, in vivo pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic evaluation for diabetes. Utilizing a dual-sensor microneedle and a layer-by-layer nanoenzyme immobilization strategy, the MCBM system achieves high sensitivity and specificity in measuring glucose and metformin concentrations in skin interstitial fluid (ISF). Seamless integration with a smartphone application enables real-time data analysis and feedback, fostering a pharmacologically informed approach to diabetes management. The MCBM system’s validation and in vivo trials demonstrate its precise monitoring of glucose and metformin, offering a tool for personalized treatment adjustments. Its proven biocompatibility and safety suit long-term usage. This system advances personalized diabetes care, highlighting the move towards wearables that adjust drug dosages in real-time, enhancing precision and personalized medicine.

Real-time monitoring of drugs and biomarkers is essential for personalized diabetes care. Here, the authors present a wearable microneedle sensor system enabling simultaneous in vivo monitoring of glucose and metformin in interstitial fluids for personalized medicine.

2D materials design: Material strength and toughness simultaneously achieved through layer twisting

The mechanical strength and toughness of engineering materials are often mutually exclusive, posing challenges for material design and selection. To address this, a research team from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has uncovered an innovative strategy: by simply twisting the layers of 2D materials, they can enhance toughness without compromising material’s strength.

This breakthrough facilitates the design of strong and tough new 2D materials, promoting their broader applications in photonic and . The findings have been published in Nature Materials.

While 2D materials often exhibit exceptional strength, they are extremely brittle. Fractures in materials are also typically irreversible. These attributes limit the use of 2D materials in devices that require repeated deformation, such as high-power devices, flexible electronics and wearables.

Semiconducting polymers and collagen combine to create safe, green wearable tech

The world of wearable technology—such as sensors and energy-producing devices—is expanding, thanks to new research into a unique combination of materials that are flexible, safe to use on or inside the human body, and environmentally friendly.

Dr. Simon Rondeau-Gagné and a team of collaborators and graduate students have used the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan to show that semiconducting polymers and collagen—the main component of human skin—can be combined to create “that are more efficient, more conformable and specifically… more green as well.”

Collagen provided both the skin-like rigidity and elasticity (or bendability) the researchers were looking for in “a platform that can be integrated with something like the human body,” said Rondeau-Gagné, an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Windsor.

Wristband sensor provides all-in-one monitoring for diabetes and cardiovascular care

A new wearable wristband could significantly improve diabetes management by continuously tracking not only glucose but also other chemical and cardiovascular signals that influence disease progression and overall health. The technology was published in Nature Biomedical Engineering.

The flexible wristband consists of a microneedle array that painlessly samples interstitial fluid under the skin to measure glucose, lactate and alcohol in real time using three different enzymes embedded within the tiny needles. Designed for easy replacement, the microneedle array can be swapped out to tailor wear periods. This reduces the risk of allergic reactions or infection while supporting longer-term use.

Simultaneously, the wristband uses an ultrasonic sensor array to measure and arterial stiffness, while ECG sensors measure heart rate directly from wrist pulses. These physiological signals are key indicators of cardiovascular risk, which is often elevated in people with diabetes but is rarely monitored continuously outside of a clinical setting.

New wearable device that mimics CT scans delivers continuous monitoring for heart and lung patients

Researchers have developed a first-of-its-kind wearable device capable of continuously scanning the lungs and heart of hospital patients while they rest in bed – offering a revolutionary alternative to CT scans.

The belt-like device, attached around a patient’s chest, uses ultrasound and works like a CT scanner. Rather than taking an isolated snapshot, it can produce a series of dynamic, high-resolution images of the heart, lungs and internal organs over time, giving doctors deeper insight into a patient’s condition. The device can be worn in bed and also reduces the need for repeated trips to radiology or exposure to doses of ionising radiation.

The breakthrough device has been developed at the University of Bath in collaboration with Polish technology company Netrix and is detailed in a recent publication in IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement.

Groundbreaking sensor technology promises safer, real-time monitoring for hospitalised cardiothoracic patients.

Researchers take major step toward cuff-free blood pressure monitoring

Researchers have shown, for the first time, that speckle contrast optical spectroscopy (SCOS) can be used for cuffless blood pressure monitoring. The new technology could improve early detection and management of hypertension.

“Hypertension affects nearly half of all adults in the US and is the leading cause of cardiovascular disease,” said Ariane Garrett, a doctoral student in Darren Roblyer’s lab at Boston University. “This research is a step toward a that would let people monitor their any time, without a cuff.”

SCOS is a noninvasive imaging technique that measures by analyzing speckle patterns formed by coherent light scattering from cells and tissue. While it has been used for other applications such as brain and tissue monitoring, this is one of the first studies to explore how SCOS signals relate to blood pressure.

Wearable X-ray-detecting fabric offers a flexible alternative to current imaging tech

Since their discovery by Wilhelm Roentgen in 1895, X-rays have become a staple of modern medical care, from imaging teeth and broken bones to screening for the early signs of breast cancer.

The most common type of X-ray detector used in medical imaging today utilizes materials known as scintillators, which are made of inorganic and rigid compounds. This inherent lack of flexibility limits their applications and often requires patients to contort their bodies to accommodate unyielding medical equipment.

This rigidity has created a demand among researchers and the for scintillating materials that are robust, efficient, and flexible. Past attempts to meet this demand, however, have had to sacrifice durability and efficiency for flexibility. An innovative fabric made of flexible inorganic fibers shows remarkable promise and may meet all three requirements.

A machine-learning–powered spectral-dominant multimodal soft wearable system for long-term and early-stage diagnosis of plant stresses

MapS-Wear, a soft plant wearable, enables precise, in situ, and early-stage stress diagnosis to boost crop yield and quality.

Highly Scalable, Wearable Surface‐Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

The last two decades have witnessed a dramatic growth of wearable sensor technology, mainly represented by flexible, stretchable, on-skin electronic sensors that provide rich information of the wearer’s health conditions and surroundings. A recent breakthrough in the field is the development of wearable chemical sensors based on surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) that can detect molecular fingerprints universally, sensitively, and noninvasively. However, while their sensing properties are excellent, these sensors are not scalable for widespread use beyond small-scale human health monitoring due to their cumbersome fabrication process and limited multifunctional sensing capabilities. Here, a highly scalable, wearable SERS sensor is demonstrated based on an easy-to-fabricate, low-cost, ultrathin, flexible, stretchable, adhesive, and biointegratable gold nanomesh. It can be fabricated in any shape and worn on virtually any surface for label-free, large-scale, in situ sensing of diverse analytes from low to high concentrations (10–106 × 10−9 m). To show the practical utility of the wearable SERS sensor, the sensor is tested for the detection of sweat biomarkers, drugs of abuse, and microplastics. This wearable SERS sensor represents a significant step toward the generalizability and practicality of wearable sensing technology.