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

I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是可穿戴电刺激头发生长帽的开发。拟议开发的柔性和可穿戴纳米发电机旨在通过相关的身体运动为可穿戴电子设备供电。目标是使绕过笨重和坚硬的电池系统成为可能，这些系统目前阻碍了许多电子治疗设备向可穿戴系统的发展。它可能会带来一种平台技术，提供自供电和闭环电子产品，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，自供电闭环电刺激帽可能成为治疗脱发问题的有效解决方案，脱发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。I-Corps项目的基础是开发一种自供电电刺激技术，该技术可以直接将随机人体运动产生的生物机械能转化为连续的电脉冲，而无需使用任何电池或调节电子设备。由于其独特的能量来源和脉冲双相电形式，直接应用产生的电力来实现某些治疗性治疗可能对头发生长有效。该技术区别于其他电池驱动装置，将生物医学功能与生物力学能量源直接耦合，形成能量流与功能反馈的闭环。在这种闭环电刺激中，刺激自动响应和同步相应的身体运动，从而在没有外部操作的情况下产生有效的治疗效果。成功的临床前结果已经证明了自供电电刺激毛发再生在大鼠和裸鼠。此外，研究结果表明，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，缓解了头发角蛋白紊乱，增加了活跃毛囊的数量。所提出的技术可能带来一种可穿戴、方便、安全和经济有效的解决方案，使电刺激治疗能够逆转秃顶。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.