Engineering New Devices for "Molecular Lab on Body" applications

由于实时健康监测和个性化医疗需求的增加，可穿戴设备正变得越来越受欢迎。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有益的，可以作为集中式实验室分子诊断测试的补充。然而，可穿戴设备可以识别和量化我们体内不断产生的分子水平信息，从而获得进一步的好处。因此，创新的工程解决方案对于提高传感能力、增强人与设备通信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开发嵌入生物分子机械的非侵入式智能可穿戴设备相关的材料科学、分析设计和电气工程挑战——用于早期生物标志物检测和长期健康监测的分子身体实验室（mLoB）。该研究项目建立在申请人之前开发和测试PoC分子诊断平台的经验基础上，旨在将此经验转化为具有分子诊断能力的可穿戴技术的开发。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实时、快速地评估一个人的动态健康状态，为最先进的可穿戴设备提供支持。提出的研究的关键目标是：1)使用简单的方法开发先进的功能材料，为柔性电气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，使分子跟踪使用功能核酸为基础的分析。3)评估改善电子设备与人体之间信息传递的方法。拟议中的研究项目将为推进附着在人体上的精密诊断设备领域创造机会。对新型先进材料及其性能的研究，以增强传感能力，将为其在其他生物医学领域的应用创造途径。这项研究将通过创造具有巨大市场潜力的先进材料、柔性电子设备和诊断测试，对可穿戴和分子诊断行业具有特别重要的意义。该项目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放出来，从而颠覆精准医疗领域，减轻加拿大负担过重的医疗保健系统的负担，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.