Wearable sensors mimic skin to help wound healing

Scientists have developed sensors that can mimic the skin and monitor wounds in real-time, helping them heal faster.

Biosensors are analytical devices that combine a biological component with a physiochemical detector to observe and analyse a chemical substance and its reaction in the body.

Conventional biosensor technology, while a great advancement in the medical field, still has limitations to overcome and improvements to be made to enhance their functionality.

Researchers at Binghamton University in the US have developed a skin-inspired, open-mesh electromechanical sensor that is capable of monitoring lactate and oxygen on the skin.

"We eventually hope that these sensors and engineering accomplishments can help advance healthcare applications and provide a better quantitative understanding in disease progression, wound care, general health, fitness monitoring and more," said Matthew Brown, a PhD student at Binghamton University.

Researchers designed a sensor that is structured similarly to that of the skin's micro architecture. This wearable sensor is equipped with gold sensor cables capable of exhibiting similar mechanics to that of skin elasticity.

They hope to create a new mode of sensor that will meld seamlessly with the wearer's body to maximise body analysis to help understand chemical and physiological information.

"This topic was interesting to us because we were very interested in real-time, on-site evaluation of wound healing progress in a near future," said Brown.

"Both lactate and oxygen are critical biomarkers to access wound-healing progression," he added.

They hope that future research will utilise this skin-inspired sensor design to incorporate more biomarkers and create even more multifunctional sensors to help with wound healing.

They hope to see these sensors being developed incorporated into internal organs to gain an increased understanding about the diseases that affect these organs and the human body.