PI: Babak A. Parviz, Electrical Engineering Department, University of Washington
The objective of this proposal is to design, build, and test a fundamentally new interface with the human body for monitoring health. The approach is to construct a functional contact lens that incorporates electronic biosensors and continuously monitors biomarker levels on the surface of the eye. These biomarkers include the glucose, lactate, and bacterial biofilm. The contact lens is equipped with an antenna to harvest energy, incorporates circuitry to control and read-out the sensors, and integrates a telecommunication module to convey the collected information to the outside world.
The construction of such a system constitutes a revolutionary step forward in creating non-invasive intelligent interfaces with the human body. It allows for collection of previously inaccessible and potentially crucially important biomedical data. The construction of the lens pushes forward the state-of-the-art in engineering in multiple fronts from nano-scale electronic molecular detectors, to microsystem integration, extreme miniaturization of telecommunication systems, energy harvesting, and biomaterials engineering.
The data produced by the lens is applicable in the management of chronic conditions such as diabetes (glucose detection), management of acute conditions such a heart attack (lactate detection), and prevention of blindness due to bacterial infection (biofilm detection). The project provides a ground for training multi-disciplinary researchers at the interface between engineering and medicine and is used to recruit students from under-served groups into science and engineering. A contact lens camp outlined in the proposal provides middle school students with hands-on laboratory experience and demonstrates the immediate application of research in improving the quality of life.
