Team: Xuewei Wang (LSA), Pei-Cheng Ku (CoE)
Summary: Wearable technologies fail to provide insight into the user’s physiological and metabolic state at molecular levels. Sweat is a biofluid rich in biomarkers, such as metabolites, electrolytes, and peptides/proteins. The chemicals in sweat have been found to correlate with health and fitness problems such as cystic fibrosis, dehydration, physical stress, and bone mineral loss. Traditional sweat analysis techniques require tedious collection and storage procedures and then subsequent laboratory testing, which bring analytical errors and restrict the number of analyzed samples. The project team will use new optical sensing methods to analyze sweat. By providing a novel and unique platform for sweat chemical monitoring, researchers aim to provide early warning of an abnormality in body health, to assess performance during physical training, and to test the effectiveness of certain sports drinks or medications.