I-Corps: Smart Bandage for Wound Care Management

Award ID: 2232609

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a wound monitoring technology that provides early and predictive wound condition data to accelerate treatment decisions. The technology seeks to allow monitoring of the physiological state of injuries remotely and in real-time. The technology may improve human well-being by providing a low-cost and user-friendly, wearable, wound monitoring device. Not limited to wounds, the technology-based direct-read detection platform may also help the healthcare industry develop fast, sensitive, reproducible, and fully automated technologies for real-time monitoring capable of detecting biomarkers in life-threatening diseases. This I-Corps project is based on the development of a novel device for real-time and remote monitoring of biochemical wound markers, providing personalized health care solutions for patients. The electronic sensor will be built into a small device that is integrated in a specialized bandage. The bandage consists of a uric acid sensor (a biomarker of wound healing), as well as pH and humidity sensors to monitor secondary infections and early signs of bacterial colonization. The setup incorporates a microcontroller and module for real-time data transfer and monitoring. The system will use machine learning models to understand the severity of the wound, providing information related to the healing rate of that specific patient. The data will also be used to assess the severity of the injury, best treatment methodology, and estimated time of recovery. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Program Director: Ruth Shuman