The system developed by the Technion researchers is based on smart micro-needles, which are fixed inside a sticker (plaster) that adheres to the skin. The system continuously monitors the patient's medical condition and sends the data to him and his doctor
The corona epidemic, which imposed an unusual burden on the health systems and the medical teams, emphasized the vitality of smart technologies for monitoring the medical condition of people continuously and in real time. These are mainly wearable devices that continuously monitor important physiological indicators and at the same time do not limit the patient in his daily functions. Advanced Materials Journal Reports on a breakthrough by researchers at the Technion, which is expected to bring about a significant change in this field. The journal chose to dedicate the cover of the issue to this study. The research was led Prof. Hussam Haik, postdoctoral student Yanbin Zing and doctoral student Rawan Omar from the Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering and the Russell Berry Institute for Nanotechnology.
The system developed by the Technion researchers is based on smart microneedles, which are fixed inside a sticker (plaster) that sticks to the skin. The system continuously monitors the patient's medical condition and sends the data to him and his doctor.
A normal medical needle is inserted into the skin up to the blood vessels and nerves and therefore causes pain and bleeding. The smart microneedles, on the other hand, are short, thin needles that only penetrate the first layer of skin and are therefore painless. Despite their length, they monitor important physiological indicators because they reach the extracellular fluid below the surface of the skin and measure various biological and chemical components - sodium, glucose, acidity level (pH) and more. The transfer of data to the doctor and patient is done wirelessly and through cloud and IoT technologies ("the Internet of Things"). The continuous monitoring, which enables the early detection of various physiological disturbances, is essential for the prevention of diseases and other health complications such as heart diseases, kidney diseases and infectious diseases and more, without the need for conventional tests such as blood tests which are only done in the clinic, painful for the patient and whose results are updated only at the moment of the test.
Two of the diseases that the new system monitors are dysnatremia and hyponatremia, which are related to the level of sodium in the blood - the first results from a sodium level that is too high and the second from a level that is too low. Sodium is an essential element found in blood cells and blood fluid and plays an essential role in the transmission of signals in the nervous system and other biological tasks. The two mentioned diseases may affect the neurological function and lead to various situations including coma and loss of consciousness, therefore their early monitoring may prevent much suffering from the patients.
"In order to adapt the technology to the routine of life," says Prof. Haik, "we developed a unique plaster made of a flexible and soft polymer that stretches and contracts together with the skin and therefore does not interfere with any operation whatsoever. Since it is important to us that the system be available to everyone, we made sure to use relatively cheap materials, so the final product will not be expensive. The technology we developed is a leap forward in disease diagnosis and continuous physiological monitoring at home and in the clinic."
Prof. Hossam Haik He is the head of the laboratories for nanomaterials-based devices and dean of certification studies at the Technion. He leads research in a variety of fields that combine nanoelectronics, smart sensing and more for the benefit of medical applications, some of which are adapted to the needs of the third world.
Dr. Yubin Zing He completed all of his degrees at Langzhou University in China and came to Haik's lab as a postdoctoral fellow.
Rawan Omar She completed her bachelor's and master's degrees at the Technion and is currently a doctoral student in Prof. Haik's laboratory. She is a fellow in the Ariane de Rothschild program for female doctoral students - a program that promotes outstanding doctoral students in order to integrate them into key positions in the Israeli academy and society.
The research was done in collaboration with Prof. Miomiao Yuan and Rongon Zhang from the Eighth Hospital Affiliated to Sun Yat-sen University in China.
For an article in the journal Advanced Materials
