Knowing how biomarker levels vary within biological fluids over time can produce valuable insight into tissue physiology and pathology, and could inform personalised clinical treatment. We describe here a wearable sensor for monitoring biomolecule levels that combines continuous fluid sampling with in situ analysis using wet-chemical assays (with the specific assay interchangeable depending on the target biomolecule). The microfluidic device employs a droplet flow regime to maximise the temporal response of the device, using a screw-driven push-pull peristaltic micropump to robustly produce nanolitre-sized droplets. The fully integrated sensor is contained within a small (palm-sized) footprint, is fully autonomous, and features high measurement frequency (a measurement every few seconds) meaning deviations from steady-state levels are quickly detected. We demonstrate how the sensor can track perturbed glucose and lactate levels in dermal tissue with results in close agreement with standard off-line analysis and consistent with changes in peripheral blood levels.
CITATION STYLE
Nightingale, A. M., Leong, C. L., Burnish, R. A., Hassan, S. ul, Zhang, Y., Clough, G. F., … Niu, X. (2019). Monitoring biomolecule concentrations in tissue using a wearable droplet microfluidic-based sensor. Nature Communications, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10401-y
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