Engineering New Devices for "Molecular Lab on Body" applications

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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.