天美影视传媒 engineers have turned tissue paper 鈥� similar to toilet tissue 鈥� into a new kind of wearable sensor that can detect a pulse, a blink of an eye and other human movement. The sensor is light, flexible and inexpensive, with potential applications in health care, entertainment and robotics.

The technology, described in a published in January in the journal Advanced Materials Technologies, shows that by tearing tissue paper that鈥檚 loaded with nanocomposites and breaking the paper鈥檚 fibers, the paper acts as a sensor. It can detect a heartbeat, finger force, finger movement, eyeball movement and more, said a UW associate professor of mechanical engineering and senior author of the research.

鈥淭he major innovation is a disposable wearable sensor made with cheap tissue paper,鈥� said Chung. 鈥淲hen we break the specimen, it will work as a sensor.鈥�

These small, Band Aid-sized sensors could have a variety of applications in various fields. For example, monitoring a person’s gait or the movement of their eyes can be used to inspect brain function or a game player鈥檚 actions. The sensor could track how a special-needs child walks in a home test, sparing the child the need for hospital visits. Or the sensors could be used in occupational therapy for seniors.

鈥淭hey can use these sensors and after one-time use, they can be thrown away,鈥� said Chung.

In their research, the scientists used paper similar to toilet tissue. The paper – nothing more than conventional paper towels聽– is then doused with carbon nanotube-laced water. Carbon nanotubes are tiny materials that create electrical conductivity. Each piece of tissue paper has both horizontal and vertical fibers, so when the paper is torn, the direction of the tear informs the sensor of what鈥檚 happened. To trace eye movement, they鈥檙e attached to a person’s reading glasses.

For now, the work has been contained to a laboratory, and researchers are hoping to find a suitable commercial use. A provisional patent was filed in December 2017.

The paper鈥檚 lead author is UW College of Engineering graduate student Jinyuan Zhang. Other co-authors include undergraduate student Cerwyn Chiew; mechanical engineering professors and ; aeronautics and astronautics professor and postdoctoral scholar , all of the UW; and graduate student Fabrice Fondjo and professor of Washington State University Vancouver.

The study was funded partially by Samsung Research America through the Think Tank Team Award.

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For more information, contact Chung at 206-543-4355 or jae71@uw.edu.

天美影视传媒 engineers and , a Bellevue, Wash., company, a device that can extract human DNA from fluid samples in a simpler, more efficient and environmentally friendly way than conventional methods.

The device will give hospitals and research labs a much easier way to separate DNA from human fluid samples, which will help with genome sequencing, disease diagnosis and forensic investigations.

“It’s very complex to extract DNA,” said , a UW associate professor of mechanical engineering who led the research. “When you think of the current procedure, the equivalent is like collecting human hairs using a construction crane.”

This technology aims to clear those hurdles. The small, box-shaped kit now is ready for manufacturing, then eventual distribution to hospitals and clinics. NanoFacture, a UW spinout company, signed a contract with Korean manufacturer last month at a in Olympia, Wash.

The UW, led by Chung, spearheaded the research and invention of the technology, and still manages the intellectual property.

Separating DNA from bodily fluids is a cumbersome process that’s become a bottleneck as scientists make advances in genome sequencing, particularly for disease prevention and treatment. The market for DNA preparation alone is about $3 billion each year.

Conventional methods use a centrifuge to spin and separate DNA molecules or strain them from a fluid sample with a micro-filter, but these processes take 20 to 30 minutes to complete and can require excessive toxic chemicals.

UW engineers designed microscopic probes that dip into a fluid sample 鈥� saliva, sputum or blood 鈥� and apply an electric field within the liquid. That draws particles to concentrate around the surface of the tiny probe. Larger particles hit the tip and swerve away, but DNA-sized molecules stick to the probe and are trapped on the surface. It takes two or three minutes to separate and purify DNA using this technology.

“This simple process removes all the steps of conventional methods,” Chung said.

The hand-held device can clean four separate human fluid samples at once, but the technology can be scaled up to prepare 96 samples at a time, which is standard for large-scale handling.

The tiny probes, called microtips and nanotips, were designed and built at the UW in a micro-fabrication facility where a technician can make up to 1 million tips in a year, which is key in proving that large-scale production is feasible, Chung said.

Engineers in Chung’s lab also have designed a pencil-sized device using the same probe technology that could be sent home with patients or distributed to those serving in the military overseas. Patients could swab their cheeks, collect a saliva sample, then process their DNA on the spot to send back to hospitals and labs for analysis.

This could be useful as toward sequencing each person’s genome for disease prevention and treatment, Chung said.

The market for this device isn’t developed yet, but Chung’s team will be ready when it is. Meanwhile, the larger device is ready for commercialization, and its creators have started working with distributors.

A grant of $50,000 seeded initial research in 2008, and since then researchers have received about $2 million in funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Sang-gyeun Ahn, a UW assistant professor of industrial design, crafted the prototype.

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For more information, contact Chung at jae71@uw.edu or 206-543-4355.