Periodic Reporting for period 1 - BEACON (Body-heat driven Electrochemical pAtch for Continuous dOpamine moNitoring)
Berichtszeitraum: 2021-10-15 bis 2023-10-14
Issue.
Patients affected by neurological diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease (PD), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Dementia and Schizophrenia, exceed 100 million people worldwide. Currently, no specific cure or therapy is available for suppressing such diseases: indeed, the current therapies are employed to slow down the deterioration of the patients’ health, thus trying to increase their quality of life. This can be done through lifelong medical treatments which include pharmacological treatments, physiotherapy and, in some cases, surgical procedures. Therefore, the social costs linked to these diseases are enormous and will continue to increase with each passing year: for example, in the USA, the average cost for PD medication is 2500$ per year while the costs for surgery can go up to 100000$ for each patient.
These neurological diseases are associated with a dysfunction of the dopamine system: PD is generated by the loss of the dopamine producing neurons in a specific brain area, while Schizophrenia is linked to an alteration of the dopamine levels and, finally, low levels of dopamine might be indicative of early-stage AD.
Impact.
Develop a wearable sweat sensing platform for dopamine detection which can discreetly adhere to the skin with greater flexibility of location. This configuration is the most suitable for medical uses which are characterized by a lower sweat production.
The availability of a non-invasive method for dopamine monitoring could represent a huge advantage in the formulation of pharmacological protocols tailored for each patient and, regarding long term monitoring, to trace the disease evolution and plan accordingly how to slow down as much as possible the disease progression, thus hopefully increasing the quality and the lifespan of the patients.
Final objective.
Provide advancements in the field of wearable printed bioelectronics. A particular focus is given on neurological pathologies, with a final device capable of improving the quality of life for millions of people affected by these disorders and to reduce the social costs by allowing to easily tailor pharmacological treatments for each patient. To reach this goal, novel materials, device configurations and manufacturing process have been developed.
Patients affected by neurological diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease (PD), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Dementia and Schizophrenia, exceed 100 million people worldwide. Currently, no specific cure or therapy is available for suppressing such diseases: indeed, the current therapies are employed to slow down the deterioration of the patients’ health, thus trying to increase their quality of life. This can be done through lifelong medical treatments which include pharmacological treatments, physiotherapy and, in some cases, surgical procedures. Therefore, the social costs linked to these diseases are enormous and will continue to increase with each passing year: for example, in the USA, the average cost for PD medication is 2500$ per year while the costs for surgery can go up to 100000$ for each patient.
These neurological diseases are associated with a dysfunction of the dopamine system: PD is generated by the loss of the dopamine producing neurons in a specific brain area, while Schizophrenia is linked to an alteration of the dopamine levels and, finally, low levels of dopamine might be indicative of early-stage AD.
Impact.
Develop a wearable sweat sensing platform for dopamine detection which can discreetly adhere to the skin with greater flexibility of location. This configuration is the most suitable for medical uses which are characterized by a lower sweat production.
The availability of a non-invasive method for dopamine monitoring could represent a huge advantage in the formulation of pharmacological protocols tailored for each patient and, regarding long term monitoring, to trace the disease evolution and plan accordingly how to slow down as much as possible the disease progression, thus hopefully increasing the quality and the lifespan of the patients.
Final objective.
Provide advancements in the field of wearable printed bioelectronics. A particular focus is given on neurological pathologies, with a final device capable of improving the quality of life for millions of people affected by these disorders and to reduce the social costs by allowing to easily tailor pharmacological treatments for each patient. To reach this goal, novel materials, device configurations and manufacturing process have been developed.
Work performed:
- Synthesis of different 3D-printable formulations (conductors, semiconductors, electrolytes and insulators).
- Additive manufacturing of different electronic devices.
- Study of the electrical and electrochemical properties of devices and materials.
- Study of the thermoelectric/thermoionic properties of organic semiconductors
- Devices modelling and simulation.
- Devices and inks optimization.
- Devices functionalization and testing for dopamine detection.
- Microfluidic design and fabrication.
- Dopamine sensing experiments. Strategies to improve sensitivity. Selectivity testing.
- Biosensing protocols and experiments.
Dissemination of the project and project’s results was done through participation in scientific symposia and conferences. In addition, seminars were organized both at LiU and UCAM to present motivation and results of the project. Most of the results have been published in open access journals, to be viewed by a broader audience. The same policy will be followed for future publications of data related to the project. The related datasets are simultaneously published in an open access portal.
- Synthesis of different 3D-printable formulations (conductors, semiconductors, electrolytes and insulators).
- Additive manufacturing of different electronic devices.
- Study of the electrical and electrochemical properties of devices and materials.
- Study of the thermoelectric/thermoionic properties of organic semiconductors
- Devices modelling and simulation.
- Devices and inks optimization.
- Devices functionalization and testing for dopamine detection.
- Microfluidic design and fabrication.
- Dopamine sensing experiments. Strategies to improve sensitivity. Selectivity testing.
- Biosensing protocols and experiments.
Dissemination of the project and project’s results was done through participation in scientific symposia and conferences. In addition, seminars were organized both at LiU and UCAM to present motivation and results of the project. Most of the results have been published in open access journals, to be viewed by a broader audience. The same policy will be followed for future publications of data related to the project. The related datasets are simultaneously published in an open access portal.
Beyond the state of the art.
- A wide range of functional inks, with different electrical and electrochemical properties, have been developed and tested.
- The work demonstrated the possibility of fabricating different electronic devices using only one additive manufacturing technique, with minimal energy and material waste.
- Optimization of devices geometries exploiting the entire available space (3D devices) have been carried out.
- Optimization of 3D extrusion-based printing technique for electronic devices fabrication.
- Device performances obtained are in many cases superior to most of the works reported in literature. In addition, materials and solvents with low environmental impact were
used.
- Extensive analysis has been carried out to better understand and improve electrochemical biosensing in printed devices.
- The tested materials/devices have generated interesting results with important insights acquired regarding the strategies necessary to improve the biosensors sensitivity;
further tests are underway to validate the result obtained.
Potential impacts.
- Creation of wearable and non-invasive biosensing patch. The consequences on the economy and daily life would be enormous, especially in the biomedical field. The possibility
of an accurate monitoring of neurotransmitter levels (can be extended to other biological species) will improve pharmacological treatments, reducing the costs for society and,
especially, improving the quality of life for millions of patients.
- Design of flexible biosensors and low-cost power generation units to be integrated into e-skin (e.g. smart bands). These results can be extended to not only neurological
patients but also to any kind of sweat-based detection and is not only limited to the medical field but can also have an impact in sports or military.
- The study of electrical and electrochemical properties will provide new motivation to the research sector. This class of materials is quite novel and many applications,
traditional and pioneering (sensing, neuromorphic, IoT, biomedical); BEACON results provide an important direction towards the future developments of these research
fields/applications.
- A wide range of functional inks, with different electrical and electrochemical properties, have been developed and tested.
- The work demonstrated the possibility of fabricating different electronic devices using only one additive manufacturing technique, with minimal energy and material waste.
- Optimization of devices geometries exploiting the entire available space (3D devices) have been carried out.
- Optimization of 3D extrusion-based printing technique for electronic devices fabrication.
- Device performances obtained are in many cases superior to most of the works reported in literature. In addition, materials and solvents with low environmental impact were
used.
- Extensive analysis has been carried out to better understand and improve electrochemical biosensing in printed devices.
- The tested materials/devices have generated interesting results with important insights acquired regarding the strategies necessary to improve the biosensors sensitivity;
further tests are underway to validate the result obtained.
Potential impacts.
- Creation of wearable and non-invasive biosensing patch. The consequences on the economy and daily life would be enormous, especially in the biomedical field. The possibility
of an accurate monitoring of neurotransmitter levels (can be extended to other biological species) will improve pharmacological treatments, reducing the costs for society and,
especially, improving the quality of life for millions of patients.
- Design of flexible biosensors and low-cost power generation units to be integrated into e-skin (e.g. smart bands). These results can be extended to not only neurological
patients but also to any kind of sweat-based detection and is not only limited to the medical field but can also have an impact in sports or military.
- The study of electrical and electrochemical properties will provide new motivation to the research sector. This class of materials is quite novel and many applications,
traditional and pioneering (sensing, neuromorphic, IoT, biomedical); BEACON results provide an important direction towards the future developments of these research
fields/applications.