Designing Continuous Glucose Monitors for Safety, Reliability, and Patient Comfort

Continuous glucose monitors have reshaped diabetes management by delivering real-time glucose readings, freeing patients from frequent finger-stick testing. This article examines how properly selected sensing, protection, and activation components — including miniature magnetic switches and thermistors — help engineers design CGMs that meet demanding performance, safety, and regulatory requirements.

Soft Bioelectronic Tracks Hundreds of Biological Events

Roughly a quarter of a millimeter in diameter, the NeuroString fiber can incorporate hundreds to thousands of independent electronic channels capable of detecting neurochemicals, monitoring muscle contractions, recording single-neuron activity, or delivering targeted stimulation. Read on to learn more.

Engineers Create Hydrogels to Monitor Activity in the Body

Wearable or implantable devices to monitor biological activities, such as heart rate, are useful, but they are typically made of metals, silicon, plastic, and glass and must be surgically implanted. A research team in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis is developing bioelectronic hydrogels that could one day replace existing devices and have much more flexibility. Read on to learn more.

Sensor Sniffs Out Pneumonia on Patient’s Breath

Engineers have developed a test to detect disease-related compounds in a patient’s breath. The new test could provide a faster way to diagnose pneumonia and other lung conditions. Rather...

Printable Nanoparticles Enable Mass Produced Biosensors

Engineers have developed a technique for inkjet printing arrays of special nanoparticles that enables the mass production of long-lasting wearable sweat sensors. These sensors could be...

Highly Sensitive Wearable Pressure Sensors Inspired by Cat Whiskers

This bioinspired design marks a significant step toward development of eco-friendly and highly sensitive wearable sensors, with broad potential in sports analytics and biomedical monitoring. Read on to learn more.

Product Focus: Sensors

See where the product focus is this month: Sensors.

Oxygen Scavenger Doubles Biosensor Performance

Researchers have developed an oxygen scavenger that consumes excess oxygen by converting it into water. Crucially, this alcohol oxidase does not react with the actual target substances —...

Biosensor Identifies Protein Linked to Depression

A low-cost, portable biosensor can quickly identify a protein whose altered levels are associated with psychiatric disorders, such as depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. When it becomes commercially available in the future, it may contribute to early detection, which is essential for treating and monitoring patients’ clinical conditions. Read on to learn more.

Biosensor Could Lead to Breath Test for Lung Cancer

University of Texas at Dallas researchers have developed biosensor technology that when combined with artificial intelligence (AI) shows promise for detecting lung cancer through breath analysis. Read on to learn more.

Pill-Sized Bioprinter Can Be Guided to Disease Site

Engineers have created the first ingestible bioprinter that can be guided to disease sites to print tissue within the body. Called MEDS (Magnetic Endoluminal Deposition System), the...

The Promise and Challenge of On-Body Biosensors: A Perspective on Clinical Utility and Commercial Viability in Patient Management

On-body biosensors have crossed the threshold from technological novelty to clinical tool driving medical decisions. The most successful devices share common traits: They provide clinically actionable information, reliably measure rapidly changing biomarkers, account for confounding variables, and utilize established reimbursement pathways. Read on to learn more about them.

Creating Wearables for Preventative Healthcare

Wearables detect early signs of health issues, paving the way for transforming preventative healthcare.

Electrochemical Sensors Enable Inexpensive Disposable Diagnostics

Using an inexpensive electrode coated with DNA, researchers have designed disposable diagnostics that could be adapted to detect a variety of diseases, including cancer or...

Researchers Develop Self-Illuminating Biosensor

Engineers have harnessed quantum physics to detect the presence of biomolecules without the need for an external light source, overcoming a significant obstacle to the use of optical biosensors in healthcare. Read on to learn more.

Tiny Microlaser Sensors Offer Supercharged Biosensing

Researchers have developed a 3D microprinted sensor for highly sensitive on-chip biosensing. The sensor, which is based on a polymer whispering-gallerymode microlaser, opens new opportunities for developing high-performance, cost-effective lab-on-a-chip devices for early disease diagnosis. Read on to learn more.

Wearable Mimics CT Scans, Delivers Continuous Monitoring of Heart, Lungs

Researchers have developed a first-of-its-kind wearable device capable of continuously scanning the lungs and heart of hospital patients while they rest in bed —...

Device Detects Infections from Skin Temperature

An international team has developed an intelligent device capable of monitoring the temperature of the skin continuously and accurately. The device uses a thermoelectric system that works...

Optical Biosensor Detects Monkeypox Virus

Researchers have developed an optical biosensor that can rapidly detect monkeypox, the virus that causes mpox. The technology could allow clinicians to diagnose the disease at the point of care rather than wait for lab results. Read on to learn more.

Proof of Life: The Rapid Evolution of Biosensors for Fitness, Health, and Wellness

While smartwatches and fitness trackers have paved the way, upcoming innovations in hearables (earbuds that monitor health), augmented reality glasses, smart patches and smart clothing will push the boundaries of what biosensors can do. As demand for these devices increases, the focus will shift to making them more energy-efficient, secure, and even more embedded in daily life. Read on to learn more.

Soft, Bioelectronic Sensor Implant Monitors Brain

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine and New York’s Columbia University have embedded transistors in a soft, conformable material to create a biocompatible sensor implant that monitors neurological functions through successive phases of a patient’s development. Read on to learn more.

Laser-Made, Ultra-Thin Material Enables Precise, Self-Powered Tracking of Healing Wounds

A major challenge in self-powered wearable sensors for healthcare monitoring is distinguishing different signals when they occur at the same time. Researchers from Penn State and China’s Hebei University of Technology addressed this issue by uncovering a new property of a sensor material. Read on to learn more about it.

2025 Trends in Healthcare: Bridging Technology, Personalization, and Accessibility

The healthcare landscape in 2025 will be reshaped by advancements in data analytics, AI, IoT, and wearable technologies, which together promise predictive, personalized, and accessible care. Read on to learn more about Editor and Director of Medical Content Sherrie Trigg's, as well as other industry professionals', thoughts on the matter.

Efficient Wearable Energy Harvester

Researchers have developed a three-dimensional stretchable piezoelectric energy harvester that can harvest electrical energy using body movements. The device is to be used as a wearable energy harvester as it can be attached to the skin or clothes. Read on to learn more.

Sensors Charge Biological Cells

A team has developed new biosensors with which the ratio of NADPH to NADP+ can be measured in living cells in real time for the first time. The team’s observations provide new insights into the evolution of the most important protective function of cells, cellular detoxification. Read on to learn more.

Researchers Develop Microchips That Detect and Diagnose Diseases

New research from NYU shows it’s possible to develop and build microchips that can not only identify multiple diseases from a single cough or air sample, but can also be produced at scale. Read on to learn more.

The Integration of Sensors into Next-Generation Health Devices

How advanced sensor technologies driving the development of wearables and health-monitoring devices.

The Role of MEMS in Next-Gen Medical Devices

How microfabrication and MEMS technology are driving sensor-based medical devices.

Biosensors and Wearables for Health Insights

In a recent Medical Design Briefs podcast, Rob Batchelor, head of biosensors at Australia-based Nutromics, joined us to talk about continuous monitoring and biosensors for health insights. This article presents excerpts from that podcast.