The innovative sweat monitoring device enables non-invasive health monitoring

Sweat contains biomarkers that can monitor a variety of conditions, from diabetes to genetic diseases. Sweat sampling, unlike blood sampling, is preferred by users because it is painless. However, to obtain enough nutrients or hormones from sweat for testing, intense physical activity was previously required to induce sweating. This method created challenges for people with limited mobility.

Dr. Kim Joohee of the Bionics Research Center at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST, director Oh Sangrok) and Professor John A. Rogers of Northwestern University jointly announced the development of a convenient sweat monitoring device that does not require physical activity but provides drug stimulation through skin. Unlike previous methods that caused sweating during exercise, this device delivers medications that stimulate sweat glands through the skin.

The research team developed a flexible device that could deliver drugs to sweat glands by applying a current to a hydrogel containing drugs. This device, which is small and soft, can be easily attached to the skin. Drug-induced sweat is collected in microfluidic channels inside the device and analyzed for biomarkers using biosensors. This enables the analysis of biomarkers in sweat, reducing the need for intrusive hospital visits for testing and reducing the risk of biomarker contamination during testing, thereby increasing accuracy.

The device developed by the research team was attached to infants with cystic fibrosis and the concentration of chloride, a biomarker in sweat, was confirmed. The results were consistent with those obtained by traditional analysis methods using sweat collected in hospitals, with an accuracy of over 98%. Additionally, the stability of the device on the skin was ensured by confirming the skin temperature and pH value. Since cystic fibrosis manifests itself mainly in infancy, it is necessary to constantly monitor the progression of the disease and physical condition. With this device, monitoring can be easily performed at home, reducing mental and physical stress on pediatric patients and their caregivers.

This newly developed device contributes to the development of non-invasive sweat-based disease monitoring technology also in healthy adults. Moreover, transdermal drug delivery technology can be used not only to induce sweating, but also to increase the rate of drug delivery to localized areas such as skin diseases or wounds, thereby accelerating recovery.

Over the course of two years of collaborative research with Northwestern University, we not only addressed the limitations of existing methods of inducing sweating, but also achieved clinical trial success, bringing us one step closer to commercialization.”

Dr. Kim Joohee, Bionics Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology

Professor John A. Rogers added: “We plan to conduct large-scale clinical trials and commercialization in the future, including in adults.”

This research was carried out under the KIST core projects and the Outstanding Young Researchers Program (RS-2023-00211342) supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister Lee Jong-ho). The research results were recently published online in the latest issue of the international journal “Biosensors & Bioelectronics” (IF 12.6).