UC sweat research touted in NSF web series

The National Science Foundation featured groundbreaking sweat research at the University of Cincinnati in its Science360 web series "4 Awesome Discoveries You Probably Didn't Hear About This Week."

UC engineering professor Jason Heikenfeld develops wearable technology in his Novel Device Lab in UC’s College of Engineering and Applied Science. His lab last year created the world’s first continuous-testing device that samples sweat as effectively as blood but in a noninvasive way and over many hours.

He examined the potential of biofluids such as blood, sweat, tears and saliva for the journal Nature Biotechnology.

UC created the world’s first continuous-monitoring sensor that can record the same health information in sweat that doctors for generations have examined in blood. The milestone is remarkable because the continuous sensor allows doctors to track health over time to see whether a patient is getting better or worse. And they can do so in a noninvasive way with a tiny patch applied to the skin that stimulates sweat for up to 24 hours at a time.

Heikenfeld and his research partners published their latest experimental findings in December in the journal Lab on a Chip. UC’s study tracked how test subjects metabolized ethanol. The study concluded that sweat provided virtually the same information as blood to measure a drug’s presence in the body.

The latest breakthrough at UC marked the culmination of more than seven years of research, he said.

Featured image at top: UC professor Jason Heikenfeld holds up a sweat sensor in the 1819 Innovation Hub. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Creative Services