Abstract

Towards Wearable Biosensing and Microfluidic Technologies

Martyn Boutelle, Professor of Biomedical Sensors Engineering, Imperial College London

The concentration of biomarker molecules can give important information about the physiological ‘well-being’ of a person.  In Healthcare this is emerging as the personalization of healthcare – where data is used to track the progression of illness and the effects of treatment in a patient at the individual level, rather than using the population average. In lifestyle/fitness monitoring data can track the move from ‘wellness’ to exhaustion, fatigue, and dehydration. Our view is that to do such monitoring effectively ideally requires moment-by-moment measurement of concentration. This can be achieved by well-designed microfluidic devices incorporating a range of sensing technologies, or by using robust direct reading sensors. These are then controlled by miniaturized wearable instrumentation connected by Bluetooth to a tablet or phone to allow data conditioning.   We have been developing a range of biosensing solutions for the invasive, minimally invasive, and non-invasive monitoring of people. I will describe the key challenges in the development of such wearable biosensing devices and present recent data demonstrating personal chemical monitoring in the fitness and healthcare realms.