I-Corps: Electrostimulation-based process that uses weak alternative electric fields to stimulate and activate hair follicles in the scalp

I-Corps：基于电刺激的过程，使用弱的替代电场来刺激和激活头皮中的毛囊

• 批准号: 2114428
• 负责人: Xudong Wang
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Madison
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-03-01 至 2022-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2114428&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Electrostimulation; based; process; uses

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a wearable electrostimulation hair growth cap. The proposed development of flexible and wearable nanogenerator aims at powering wearable electronic devices from relevant body motions. The goal is to enable the possibility of bypassing the bulky and rigid battery systems that currently hinder the evolution of many electronic therapeutic devices toward a wearable system. It may lead to a platform technology providing self-powered and closed-loop electronics as a new wearable or implantable solution for achieving a variety of biomedical functions, such as health monitoring, information gathering, and providing therapeutic treatments. Further, the self-powered, closed-loop electrostimulation cap may become an effective solution to cure the hair loss problem that plagues many human beings across a broad age range worldwide with an anticipated global market of $12 billion in 2024.This I-Corps project is based on the development of a self-powered, electrostimulation technology that directly converts biomechanical energy from random human body motions into continuous electric pulses without involving any battery or regulative electronics. Due to its unique energy resource and pulsed bi-phasic electricity form, directly applying the generated electricity to achieve certain therapeutic treatments may becomes effective for hair growth. This technology is distinguished from other battery-driven devices by directly coupling the biomedical functions with biomechanical energy sources, forming a closed loop of both energy flow and function feedback. In such a closed-loop electrostimulation, the stimulations are automatically responsive and synchronized to corresponding body motions, and thus impose efficient therapeutic effects without external manipulations. Successful pre-clinical results have been demonstrated self-powered electrostimulation hair regrowth on rats and nude mice. In addition, the results showed that the technology improved the secretion of a few key growth factors related to hair follicle growth, alleviating hair keratin disorder, and increasing the number of active hair follicles. The proposed technology may bring a wearable, convenient, safe, and cost effective solution to enable electrostimulation treatments to reverse baldness.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该 I-Corps 项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发可穿戴电刺激毛发生长帽。拟议开发柔性可穿戴纳米发电机的目的是通过相关的身体运动为可穿戴电子设备供电。其目标是能够绕过目前阻碍许多电子治疗设备向可穿戴系统发展的笨重且刚性的电池系统。它可能会催生一种提供自供电和闭环电子设备的平台技术，作为一种新的可穿戴或植入式解决方案，以实现各种生物医学功能，例如健康监测、信息收集和提供治疗。 此外，自供电闭环电刺激帽可能成为治疗脱发问题的有效解决方案，该问题困扰着全球各个年龄段的许多人，预计到 2024 年全球市场将达到 120 亿美元。这个 I-Corps 项目基于自供电电刺激技术的开发，该技术直接将随机人体运动的生物力学能量转换为连续电脉冲，无需任何电池或调节器 电子产品。由于其独特的能源和脉冲双相电形式，直接应用所产生的电来实现某些治疗效果可能对毛发生长有效。该技术与其他电池驱动设备的区别在于，将生物医学功能与生物力学能源直接耦合，形成能量流动和功能反馈的闭环。在这种闭环电刺激中，刺激自动响应并与相应的身体运动同步，从而无需外部操作即可产生有效的治疗效果。成功的临床前结果已证明自供电电刺激大鼠和裸鼠的毛发再生。此外，结果表明，该技术改善了与毛囊生长相关的几种关键生长因子的分泌，缓解了毛发角蛋白紊乱，并增加了活跃毛囊的数量。拟议的技术可能会带来一种可穿戴、方便、安全且具有成本效益的解决方案，使电刺激治疗能够逆转秃发。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。