Body-based Sensing Systems for Continuous and Real Time Disease Monitoring

Development of body-based sensing systems such as wearable and implantable devices capable of non-invasive and real-time monitoring of relevant biomarkers is key to advancing precision or personalized medicine. The devices could provide users with crucial information regarding their health in real time, for example, the onset of stroke, myocardial infarction, or anaphylaxis. Commercially available devices capable of continuous monitoring of health based on reading regarding their physical markers of health, such as heart rate, physical activity, sleep quality, etc. Although impressive, a major limitation of these devices is that they are unable to monitor biological markers. While implantable sensors for monitoring small molecules such as glucose have been available for over a decade, analysis of proteins remains an unmet need. We have developed a versatile sensing strategy that is compatible with the analysis of proteins that are important physiological markers of stress, allergy, cardiovascular health, inflammation, and cancer. The detection method is based on the motion of an inverted nano scale molecular pendulum that exhibits field-induced transport modulated by the presence of a bound analyte. We measure the sensor’s electric field-mediated transport using the electron-transfer kinetics of an attached reporter molecule. Using time-resolved electrochemical measurements the presence of a biomarker bound to our sensor complex can be detected continuously in real time. We show that this sensing approach is compatible detection of analytes in blood, saliva, urine, tears, and sweat and that the sensors can collect data in situ in living animals. Moreover, we further develop a method to active reset MP sensor employing high-frequency oscillations to accelerate dissociation, enabling sensor regeneration within 1 minute for continuous analyte measurement.