I-Corps: Long-Term, User-Friendly, and Motion-Artifact-Free Heart Monitoring

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is focused on improving the wearable heart monitor’s long-term biocompatibility and long-lasting fidelity of signal recording. Heart diseases, the leading cause of mortality in the United States, contribute to nearly 655,000 deaths each year and approximately $219 billion annual healthcare cost. Continuous, long-term electrocardiogram monitoring outside clinical settings is critical for early detection and timely intervention of a variety of heart conditions. However, current wearable heart monitors usually suffer from limited long-term biocompatibility and motion-induced artifacts, constraining their efficiency. Recently developed, porous wearable heart monitors can surmount these limitations and improve the quality of life for those afflicted with diverse heart conditions. This project aims to assess the potential of this new technology to spawn new business opportunities. The planned commercialization path, including founding a start-up or licensing the technology to interested third parties, offers promise for contributing to economic development and creation of new jobs. Additionally, this project can also enhance scientific and technological understanding in the field of biomedical monitoring and holds potential to catalyze progress in healthcare technology. This I-Corps project is based on the development of a new porous wearable heart monitor, which can simultaneously achieve ultrasoftness, high breathability, outstanding antimicrobial property, thermal regulation, and strain-insensitive electrical performance. Ultrasoftness can mitigate skin irritation and promote seamless device-skin integration. High breathability can help to reduce the likelihood of inflammation and data loss caused by sweat accumulation. The antimicrobial feature can prevent infections from foreign pathogenic microbes, a particularly crucial attribute for home-based applications. Thermal regulation can avoid potential skin burns from wearable circuits and mitigate the effect of temperature changes on device performance. Strain-insensitive electrical performance can minimize artifacts caused by human motions. The integration of these unique features can facilitate the creation of motion-artifact-free wearable heart monitors with unprecedented long-term biocompatibility and user-friendliness. Besides, additive manufacturing is employed in device fabrication to ensure cost-effectiveness. Moreover, beyond heart monitors, this technique can be harnessed to build a range of customized wearable devices with long-term biocompatibility and long-lasting fidelity of biosignal recording to satisfy a variety of arising requirements of home-based, personalized healthcare. 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.