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

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一种可穿戴的电刺激头发生长帽。拟议的柔性和可穿戴纳米发电机的开发旨在通过相关的身体运动为可穿戴电子设备提供动力。其目标是实现绕过笨重和僵硬的电池系统的可能性，这些系统目前阻碍了许多电子治疗设备向可穿戴系统的演变。它可能导致一种平台技术，提供自供电和闭环电子设备，作为一种新的可穿戴或可植入解决方案，用于实现各种生物医学功能，如健康监测、信息收集和提供治疗。此外，自供电的闭环电刺激帽可能成为治愈困扰全球各个年龄段的许多人的脱发问题的有效解决方案，预计2024年全球市场将达到120亿美元。i-Corps项目基于自供电的电刺激技术的开发，该技术直接将生物机械能量从人体随机运动转化为连续的电脉冲，而不涉及任何电池或调节电子设备。由于其独特的能源和脉冲双相电形式，直接利用所产生的电力来实现某种治疗方法，可能会对头发生长有效。这项技术不同于其他电池驱动的设备，它将生物医学功能与生物机械能源直接耦合，形成能量流动和功能反馈的闭环系统。在这种闭环式电刺激中，刺激自动响应并同步于相应的身体运动，从而在没有外部操作的情况下实施有效的治疗效果。成功的临床前结果已经证明，自我供电的电刺激毛发在大鼠和裸鼠身上再生。此外，结果显示，该技术改善了与毛囊生长相关的几个关键生长因子的分泌，缓解了毛发角蛋白紊乱，增加了活跃的毛囊数量。这项拟议的技术可能会带来可穿戴、方便、安全和成本效益高的解决方案，使电刺激疗法能够扭转秃顶。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.