A team of professors, led by Professor Ali Javey of UC Berkeley, have developed a wristband prototype that measures sweat and analyzes its biomarkers to monitor body health.
He and his team have developed an integrated system that selectively and simultaneously measures the chemical components of sweat and transmit the data wirelessly to a smartphone. The sensors would collect information regarding glucose, lactate, sodium and potassium levels and calibrate this data based on temperature of its wearers. It is important that this happens in real time because the lactate and glucose sensors' responses can vary with differences in temperature.
Since sweat is physiologically rich, this, according to Professor Ali Javey, makes the bodily fluid excretion a valuable fluid to integrate into devices with non-invasive wearable sensors.
Professor Javey's team consulted with colleague Professor George Brooks, also from the University of California, Berkeley. Professor Brooks was awed by the invention because the levels of metabolites and electrolytes such a device would mention are vital to a person's health.
Studying the effects of exercise on the human body typically requires blood samples. With this new invention of Professor Javey's, the process has the potential to become non-invasive.
"Someday it may be possible to know what's going on physiologically without needle sticks or attaching little disposable cups on you," Professor Brooks expresses.
The device was explained in the Jan. 28 issue of the journal Nature, and it was tested on many volunteers as they took part in indoor and outdoor activities of up to an hour; activities like bike riding or running on trails.
The wireless printed circuit, with silicon components bought off the shelf, is adjacent to the sensors. The team of researchers used 10 chips to take measurements from the sensors, intensifying the signals and adjusting for temperature variations. An app was also developed to send the data from he sensors to smartphones. This device can be fitted onto wristbands or headbands.
The band can also be adjusted to monitor and analyze other bodily fluids apart from sweat, and can be used to monitor people with injuries or illnesses.
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