Researchers from Binghamton University in New York have succeeded in developing skin-inspired electronic components that are anchored on top of the skin and enable long-term, real-time and high-capacity wound monitoring in patients
![Image of the innovative detector integrated inside a textile-silicone bandage [courtesy: Matthew Brown]](https://www.hayadan.org.il/images/content3/2019/04/1-wearablesens-500x256.jpg)
"We hope that in the end these detectors and engineering achievements can help advance the development of healing means and provide a better understanding of disease development, wound healing, general health, physical fitness monitoring and more," said Matthew Brown, one of the researchers.
Biodetectors are analytical devices that combine a biological component and a physiochemical sensor whose purpose is to monitor and analyze a chemical substance and its reaction within the body. Conventional biodetector technology, although it has given rise to great progress in the field of medicine, still has limitations that must be overcome in order to increase their functionality. Researchers at Binghamton University have succeeded in developing a skin-inspired electromechanical detector capable of monitoring lactate and oxygen concentrations in the skin.
"We are focusing on the development of next-generation systems that can integrate with biological tissue (for example, skin, neurological tissue and heart tissue)," said the researcher. The team of researchers designed a system that is structurally similar to the micro-architecture of the skin. This wearable detector is equipped with gold sensing wires capable of exhibiting characteristics similar to those of the elasticity of real skin. The researchers hope to create a new mode of operation of sensing that will allow a perfect fusion with the body of the wearer, with the aim of obtaining the most details from the analysis of the body to help understand the chemical and physiological information obtained from it. "This topic interested us very much because we wanted to develop a real-time and on-site evaluation mechanism of the healing process of wounds in the near future," explains the researcher. "Both lactate and oxygen are essential biomarkers in the process of wound healing."
The researchers hope that future research will be able to utilize this skin-based detector design to measure additional biomarkers and develop more multifunctional detectors to help heal wounds, and even incorporate them into internal organs to gain more insight into disease processes. "The structure of our detector allows the free passage of material between biological tissue and bioelectronic components with a biological interface, that is, this bio-integrated sensing system is able to measure vital biochemical processes without provoking an immune response."
