Bulky, buzzing and beeping
hospital rooms demonstrate that monitoring a patient's health status is an
invasive and uncomfortable process, at best, and a dangerous process, at worst.
Penn State researchers want to change that and make biosensors that could make
health monitoring less bulky, more accurate and much safer. The key would be
making sensors that are so stretchable and flexible that they can easily
integrate with the human body's complex, changing contours. If biosensors that
are both energy efficient and stretchable can be achieved at scale, the
researchers suggest that engineers can pursue a range of options for sensors
that can be worn on the body, or even placed inside the body.
The payoff would be smarter, more
effective and more personalized medical treatment and improved health
decision-making without a lot of bulky, buzzing and beeping pieces of
monitoring equipment. Some of the ideas that researchers at Penn State and
around the world are investigating include stretchable textiles that can
incorporate biosensors. Paper-based sensors could also potentially be used to
create smart bandages that can monitor the status of wounds. Temporary tattoos
could even incorporate biosensors for health monitoring. For example, a
biosensor-enabled tattoo could provide diabetes patients with instant estimates
of their glucose levels.
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