As expansive as our skill-set might be, our ability to stay flexible with our perspective certainly stands out from the rest. You see, when you are able to look at something in a lot of different ways, you end up making your take much more holistic than it would have been otherwise. The stated dynamic has even left some notable by-products within the real-world setting, but if we are being honest, none of them pop up quite like technology. The reason why technology’s credentials are so unmatched goes beyond just its innate abilities. It talks to the creation’s overall impact, which stretches across our entire spectrum, including the all-important medical sector. Technology’s foray into healthcare deserves a special shout mainly because of its timing, as before this link-up, the sector was literally running on fumes. Hence, the creation didn’t just scale up a few things here and there, but it also gave healthcare another lease of life. Since then, the two disciplines have continued to nurture their collaboration, and their latest attempt to do so comes from University of Texas.
The researching team at University of Texas, Dallas has successfully developed a wearable electrochemical sensor, which can detect chemokines in sweat, and consequentially alert the wearer to a potential viral or bacterial infection. Created in association with, EnLiSense, the sensor is also well-equipped in terms of picking up an approaching cytokine storm. Cytokine storm occurs when high levels inflammatory molecules are released by your body at once. This can trigger some fatal consequences, therefore making the device’s ability to give a heads up all the more important. Notably enough, as the sensor is specifically constructed for people who are ill, it does not require you to perform a strenuous activity so to generate enough sweat. Instead, the device can give you similarly accurate measurements with the help of just passive sweat. Beyond that, the sensor’s accommodating nature also seeps into the way it analyzes everything, giving you the option of a real-time analysis, as well as a later assessment, which is supported by one strip that is there to collect the sweat.
“We have built a technology to unlock and explore the latest frontier in sweat diagnostics,” said Shalini Prasad, a researcher involved in the study. “This sweat-based, wearable technology from EnLiSense is truly transformational in that it can measure and report human host response messenger molecules associated with inflammation and infection in a real-time and continuous manner.”
While a follow-up test will be required to detect the exact pathogen, the new electrochemical sensor can prove really handy against various infections, including Covid-19.