DETECT: Disposable Sensor for Continuous Detection of Renal Disease

使用非侵入性方法的疾病检测已经获得了显著的关注，因为非侵入性技术是用户友好的并且适合于开发家庭护理诊断设备。非侵入性检测对于慢性病的早期检测和监测尤其重要，因为根据世界卫生组织的报告，慢性病导致全球约75%的死亡。在慢性病中，慢性肾脏病的检测非常重要，因为它影响了全球约10%的人口，每年有数百万人因负担不起的治疗而死亡。此外，最近的研究表明，COVID-19长途运输者患终末期肾病的风险明显更高。因此，早期肾脏疾病的检测是最合适的方法，以防止它达到严重的阶段。目前，血液和尿液采样方法用于肾脏疾病的检测。然而，现有的方法依赖于实验室，需要熟练的技术人员，非用户友好，耗时，并且不便于连续监测。因此，需要提出一种合适的非侵入性检测方法，该方法用户友好，快速，易于重复，更容易为患者所接受，并且便于连续监测。为了达到这一目的，DETECT的明确目标是制造一种多功能天线，以开发一种无线氨传感器，该传感器具有可靠的传感性能，可用于肾脏疾病的早期检测。多功能天线或天线传感器将用作双重功能：（i）用于无线通信的NFC标签;以及（ii）用于检测目标分析物的分析物传感器，即，氨天线传感器将使用可生物降解的材料（例如，PEDOT：PSS、石墨烯、碳）上的可置换基底（例如，PDMS，PLA，Paper）开发一种适用于肾脏疾病连续检测的高性能和环保型氨传感装置。

Disease detection using non-invasive methods has gained significant attention as the non-invasive technology is user-friendly and suitable for developing home care diagnostics devices. Non-invasive detection is important especially for early-stage detection and monitoring of chronic diseases as chronic diseases are accountable for around 75% of deaths across the world as per the WHO report.Among chronic diseases, the detection of chronic renal (kidney) disease is important as it has affected around 10 % of the population globally and millions of people die every year due to unaffordable treatment. In addition, recent studies have suggested that COVID-19 long-haulers are at significantly higher risk for getting end-stage renal disease. Therefore, early-stage renal disease detection is the most appropriate way to prevent it reaching to the severe stage.Presently, blood and urine sampling methods are used for renal disease detection. However, existing methods are laboratory dependent, need skilled technicians, non-user-friendly, time-consuming, and inconvenient for continuous monitoring. Therefore, there is need to come up with a suitable non-invasive detection method, which is user-friendly, fast, easily repeatable, more acceptable for patients and convenient for continuous monitoring. To serve the purpose, DETECT is explicitly aimed at fabricating a multi-functional antenna to develop a wireless ammonia sensor demonstrating reliable sensing performance for early-stage detection of renal disease. The multi-functional antenna or antenna sensor will serve the dual function as: (i) NFC tag for wireless communication; and (ii) analyte sensor for detection of target analyte i.e., ammonia. The antenna sensor would be developed using the biodegradable materials (e.g., PEDOT: PSS, graphene, carbon) on a disposable substrate (e.g., PDMS, PLA, Paper) to develop a high performance and eco-friendly ammonia sensing device suitable for continuous detection of renal disease.