Wearable microfluidic biomarker sensor for human performance assessment

Sweat carries valuable information about our physiological and cognitive status. Measurement of various biomarkers in sweat provides a pathway for the assessment of fatigue or cognitive ability, disease, or even physical conditions such as blood glucose or hydration levels for individuals [1]. There has been a significant interest in developing a non-invasive, wearable sensor platform to facilitate the detection of a range of biomarkers from sweat. This paper will describe approaches for development of a wearable microfluidic platform suitable for non-invasive detection of sweat-based biomarkers (for example glucose, Orexin A, cortisol and IL-6). The wearable platform is composed of miniaturized electrical sensors integrated with flexible, printed microfluidic components that allow for on-demand sample acquisition and transport of sweat, and subsequent detection of biomarkers at the sensing surface site. Sample acquisition is achieved utilizing absorbent pads affixed to the skin that feed hydrophylic microchannels with on-demand sample acquisition controlled through printed electro-wetting valves enabling capillary pumping to continuously deliver sample to the sensor.