Gutruf Lab develops longer-lasting wearables

Whether it be a watch or a ring, biometric devices are becoming increasingly popular for sports medicine and health care applications. But an issue with more permanent adhesive-based designs are their limited lifespans. A recent study co-authored by BME assistant professor and Craig M. Berge Faculty Fellow Philipp Gutruf details a longer-lasting wearable device that can gather more information about a user's health without adhesives. 

“Wearable health monitoring traditionally depends on sensors that directly attach to the skin, but the skin itself constantly renews,” said Gutruf in an interview with Digital Journal, who is also a member of the university's BIO5 Institute. “This limits how long you can collect reliable data. With our sensor that tracks gaseous emissions from the skin, we overcome this constraint entirely."

The study, published in Nature Communications, describes how the device captures emissions of gas from the skin to allow for real-time analysis of sweat rate, volatile organic compounds and CO2 while performing everyday tasks.

“This opens an entirely new space of biomarkers,” Gutruf said. “For example, you can capture the metabolic signatures of exercise or stress without interrupting the subject’s normal routine. Previously, measurements of this kind required an entire room of equipment.”