Manufacturing of Low-Cost Wearable Physiological and Molecular Marker Monitoring Patches for DoD Applications
Abstract
Societal trends across the globe, including a shortage of centralized laboratory and medical facilities, aging populations with increasing incidence of infectious and chronic diseases, earlier diagnosis of diseases, personalized medicine, companion testing for pharmaceutical use, government initiatives and insurance acceptance, are all important factors behind continued demand for reliable wireless, wearable health monitoring and medical devices. Similarly, wearable technologies are poised to support readiness and training of DoD service members by providing critical real-time information on their health and wellness status as well as safety risks. In this presentation, we will highlight our efforts towards development of single use Vital Signs Monitoring (VSM) devices and a semi-disposable biochemistry monitoring patch using interstitial fluid (ISF).
The VSM devices enable continuous measurement of multiple parameters, including ECG (heart rate), respiration rate, 3-wavelength reflective PPG (pulse oximetry), skin temperature and motion (3-axis accelerometry) for up to 3 days. These patches are designed to measure these parameters at anatomically relevant locations to achieve clinical relevancy. We will also present the results of human subject testing at AFRL to evaluate prototype patch performance under simulated flight/vibration conditions relevant to aeromedical evacuation concepts of operation. The ISF patches enable in-situ biomarker detection, where stainless steel capillary microneedles are used to extract ISF from the dermis for analysis by sensor elements outside the skin. We have developed miniaturized, screen-printed electrode solutions for lactate sensing, addressing challenges posed by low ISF volumes, and demonstrated ex-vivo and in-vivo lactate and cortisol sensing capabilities from ISF.
This material is based on research sponsored by Air Force Research Laboratory under agreement number FA8650-18-2-5402. The U.S. The views and conclusions contained herein are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies or endorsements, either expressed or implied, of Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) or the U.S. Government.
Biography
A Principal Scientist at GE Healthcare, Dr. Azar Alizadeh is the Principal Investigator on multiple US Department of Defense (DARPA, NextFlex and NBMC- AFRL) sponsored programs and leads cross-functional teams of industrial and academic partners to develop advanced computational platforms and wireless health and performance monitoring systems. The wearable sensing platforms developed by these teams enable vital signs as well as sweat and interstitial biochemical measurement capabilities and have the potential to revolutionize medicine and performance monitoring through early detection of illness, infection, fatigue and injury.
Dr. Alizadeh holds a PhD in physics, is a NextFlex fellow, has co-authored 50 peer reviewed publications, and holds 20 US patents/patent applications. Dr. Alizadeh is the co-Lead on the NextFlex Human Monitoring Systems and serves on the Governing Council of NBMC. Dr Alizadeh is the recipient of GE 2019 Edison Award and SEMI Flexi 2017 Award.