Spring Break
UA researchers create wireless biosensors
Technology
Evan Billingsley
Issue date: 8/20/07 Section: News
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Electrical engineering researchers at the UA have developed small, wireless biosensors that can read vital signs when placed directly on the body or implanted in clothing, a UA researcher said.
These biosensors may radically change diagnostic techniques in a variety of circumstances including casual, recreational activity to neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease, said Vijay Varadan, distinguished professor of electrical engineering in the College of Engineering.
Research into the possible applications for the biosensors has been continuous since 2005 under the direction of Varadan who co-teaches a course in microsensors and micro-electro-mechanical systems, the nanomachines on which the biosensors re based.
"We're trying to move diagnostic testing out of the laboratory and directly to the patient," said Taeksoo Ji, assistant professor of electrical engineering, in a press release. And to accomplish that goal, Ji, Varadan and others have developed a variety of biosensors that measure different physiological signs in the body, like temperature and respiration rate. The effectiveness of each biosensor is dependent on where it is placed on or in the patient being treated.
"If the sensor is placed in the shirt it can measure the skin conditions, but it won't tell you the heart conditions," Varadan said.
For that, the sensor must be injected into the body, where an antenna relays diagnostic information over a wireless network. The body will not reject the biosensor as foreign because the biosensor is made out of a carbon polymer instead of the more expensive silicon alternative. Still, there are limits to how far the current technology can be placed into the body, Varadan said.
"We cannot insert these sensors very far into the body, because of all the liquid," Varadan said. "That is where we run into problems, in areas such as the gall bladder. However, the brain is fine, the heart is fine."
These biosensors may radically change diagnostic techniques in a variety of circumstances including casual, recreational activity to neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease, said Vijay Varadan, distinguished professor of electrical engineering in the College of Engineering.
Research into the possible applications for the biosensors has been continuous since 2005 under the direction of Varadan who co-teaches a course in microsensors and micro-electro-mechanical systems, the nanomachines on which the biosensors re based.
"We're trying to move diagnostic testing out of the laboratory and directly to the patient," said Taeksoo Ji, assistant professor of electrical engineering, in a press release. And to accomplish that goal, Ji, Varadan and others have developed a variety of biosensors that measure different physiological signs in the body, like temperature and respiration rate. The effectiveness of each biosensor is dependent on where it is placed on or in the patient being treated.
"If the sensor is placed in the shirt it can measure the skin conditions, but it won't tell you the heart conditions," Varadan said.
For that, the sensor must be injected into the body, where an antenna relays diagnostic information over a wireless network. The body will not reject the biosensor as foreign because the biosensor is made out of a carbon polymer instead of the more expensive silicon alternative. Still, there are limits to how far the current technology can be placed into the body, Varadan said.
"We cannot insert these sensors very far into the body, because of all the liquid," Varadan said. "That is where we run into problems, in areas such as the gall bladder. However, the brain is fine, the heart is fine."
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