Northwest Researchers Make Progress Toward The Wireless Future Of Medicine

By Kellen Andrilenas

Having finished lunch, Francis checks her cell phone to see if her blood sugar level is in a safe range. Everything checks out, but something doesn't feel right. The pain in her chest is worsening, and her heart rate spikes. As Francis's heart attack starts, her cell phone snaps into action alerting paramedics and family of her situation. Later, across Francis's hospital room, a device pointed at her chest rapidly assesses heart rate and movement for her medical team.

In this glimpse of the future, Francis's medical care uses advanced biosensor technology that wirelessly monitors her health. She wears sensor equipped contact lenses and a heart monitoring "sticky” placed on her chest. These sensors talk to her cell phone and give real-time information to track her diabetes and heart condition. In the hospital, the heart monitor quickly gives physicians accurate results, letting them know what's wrong.

In September of 2007, these advanced sensors were displayed at the cutting edge technology exhibition called WIRED NextFest. They were developed at Simon Frasier University's Center for Integrative Bioengineering Research (CiBER) in Vancouver, B.C.

Patients using the heart monitoring technologies could be assessed rapidly and released from the hospital earlier, with long-term monitoring and follow-up appointments done from home. CiBER's lead researcher and founder Bozena Kaminska says that current devices on the market are not reliable or easy to use, and they do not provide functionality that is required for remote appointments.

Currently CiBER is working closely with Canadian health organizations to test monitoring of patients in rural locations. Kaminska says the project "is like an extension of the hospital, but the technology needs to be very easy to use, very simple, because a lot of people cannot manage complicated software and hardware.” The CiBER team is working with Canadian Health authorities to improve wireless connectivity and support for future, non-trial use.

New sensors and their applications are the primary focus of CiBER. Researchers are working to integrate wireless capabilities to make sensors "easy to use for medical health purposes, but also for environmental, security and entertainment purposes,” says Kaminska.

CiBER's manufacturing process creates inexpensive, flexible, mini-laboratories on a chip that use advanced techniques to sense the world around them.

Creating the blood sugar sensor involved adding complex circuitry to a bendable, plastic like material that could be worn like a contact lens. To monitor blood sugar, the sensor takes a microscopic sample of the user's tears as they blink. The tear is analyzed by a catalyst protein on the chip that reacts when an indicator chemical is found. The amount of indicator is determined by the sensor and sent wirelessly to the patient's cell phone. Then the blood sugar level is displayed simply and painlessly. This technology may eliminate the need for diabetics to take frequent blood samples.

The wireless heart monitor uses noninvasive radar technology to assess the heart's mechanical motion, determining the rhythm and rate of the heart. The device operates quickly. It only takes thirty seconds to give physicians an accurate display of the patient's heart function, and every second counts.

When asked about the idea of a "CiBER Hospital,” Kaminska says it will involve a lot of technology and is a question of sharing and protecting information. Currently, CiBER is trying to facilitate easy interpretation of results and access to medical doctors through wireless communication infrastructure.

Kellen Andrilenas is an undergraduate in biology and psychology at the University of Washington.

Images

Top: Bozena Kaminska and wireless sensor that sends real-time heart data to a patient's cellphone. Photo: Center for Integrative Bioengineering Research (CiBER)

Bottom: Heart monitor, developed at CiBER, uses radar to measure heart function from up to 30 feet away. Photo: Center for Integrative Bioengineering Research (CiBER)