Engineering New Devices for "Molecular Lab on Body" applications

由于对实时健康监测和个性化医疗的需求上升，可穿戴设备正变得越来越流行。对于护理点(PoC)应用，测量身体运动和生命体征的可穿戴监测设备已经被证明是对基于实验室的集中式分子诊断测试的有益补充。然而，从可穿戴设备中可以获得进一步的好处，这种设备可以识别和量化在我们身体中持续产生的分子水平的信息。因此，创新的工程解决方案对于提高传感能力、加强人与设备的沟通以及实现与分子机械的集成至关重要。此外，相关技术的进步，如材料、传感器、执行器、分析设计和开发，使找到解决方案成为可能。拟议的研究计划解决了与非侵入性和智能可穿戴设备的开发相关的材料科学、分析设计和电气工程方面的挑战，这些设备嵌入了生物分子机械--分子实验室(MLoB)，用于早期生物标记物检测和长期健康监测。该研究计划建立在申请者之前在PoC分子诊断平台开发和测试方面的经验基础上，旨在将这些经验转化为开发具有分子诊断能力的可穿戴技术。除了大规模收集身体和生命体征外，这项研究还将通过在分子水平上提供实时、快速的动态健康状态评估，为最先进的可穿戴设备提供支持。拟议研究的主要目标是：1)使用简便的方法开发先进的功能材料，为柔性电子设备的开发提供增强的性能矩阵。2)设计、开发和测试生物传感器，以便能够使用基于核酸的功能性分析进行分子跟踪。3)评估改善电子设备与人体之间信息传递的方法。拟议的研究计划将创造一个机会，推动精密诊断设备领域的发展，这些设备在连接到人体时可以工作。对新的先进材料及其性能的研究将为它们在其他生物医学领域的使用创造条件。这项研究将通过创造具有巨大市场潜力的先进材料、灵活的电子设备和诊断测试，对可穿戴设备和分子诊断行业具有特别重要的意义。该计划的长期目标是通过将患者从传统分子诊断设置的障碍中解脱出来，扰乱精确医疗领域，减轻加拿大负担过重的医疗系统的负担，并提高生活质量。

Wearable devices are becoming increasingly popular due to the rise in demand for real-time health monitoring and personalized medicine. For the point-of-care (PoC) applications, wearable monitoring devices that measure physical movement and vital signs have already been shown to be beneficial as a complement to the centralized lab-based molecular diagnostic tests. However, a further benefit can be obtained from wearable devices that can identify and quantify molecular-level information that is continuously produced in our bodies. Hence, innovative engineering solutions are crucial to improve sensing ability, enhance human-device communication, and enable integration with molecular machinery. Moreover, advances in related technologies, such as materials, sensors, actuators, assay design, and development, make it feasible to find a solution. The proposed research program solves the material science, assay design, and electrical engineering challenges associated with the development of non-intrusive and smart wearable devices embedded with biomolecular machinery - molecular Lab on Body (mLoB) for early biomarker detection and long-term monitoring of health. This research program builds on the applicant's previous experience with the development and testing of PoC molecular diagnostic platforms and is aimed at translating this experience into developing wearable technologies with molecular diagnostics capability. Besides the large-scale collection of physical and vital signs, this research will empower the state-of-the-art wearable devices by providing real-time, and rapid evaluation of one's dynamic health status at the molecular level. The key objectives of the proposed research are: 1) Using facile methods to develop advanced functional materials that provide an enhanced performance matrix for the development of flexible electrical devices. 2) Designing, developing, and testing biosensors to enable molecular tracking using functional nucleic acid-based assays. 3) Evaluating approaches for improving the transfer of information between electronic devices and the human body. The proposed research program will create an opportunity to advance the field of precision diagnostic devices that work when attached to the human body. The investigation of new advanced materials and their properties catering to enhanced sensing capability will create avenues for their use in other biomedical fields. This research will be of particular significance to the wearable and molecular diagnostic industries, through the creation of advanced materials, flexible electronic devices, and diagnostic tests with huge market potential. The long-term objective of this program is to disrupt the field of precision healthcare by untethering patients from barriers of traditional molecular diagnostic settings, reducing the burden on Canada's overtaxed healthcare system, and enhancing the quality of life.