Catching Z’s, capturing data: DIY wearable

Audrey Duarte has spent most of her research career as a professor with the School of Psychology studying memory and aging. "It's really my bread and butter," Duarte says. Soon, that research will focus on another aspect of daily—and nightly—life that changes as people grow older, in an area that often impacts their memory: sleep. "When you start thinking about what is underlying memory changes and aging, and individual differences in memory ability, there are certain factors that you can look at that are malleable—health-related factors, and sleep is a huge one," Duarte says.

从睡眠主题中收集数据的问题是多次设备that individuals have to wear can be cumbersome and make it difficult to attain a good night's sleep. That can impact the quality of the data. That's why Duarte is collaborating with assistant professor W. Hong Yeo, who researches micro and nano engineering in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. Together, the team is creating a much smaller,wearable electronicsdevice that can read brain waves while allowing the wearer to easily drift off into the various stages of sleep. That device may be ready for home testing soon, Yeo says.

目前，Duarte和Yeo正在研究两个项目。一个人得到了美国国立卫生研究院赠款的支持，该机构旨在开发一个在家睡眠监测系统，以测量额头上的大脑信号。这个单个设备平台将用于查找与早期检测有关的神经特征Alzheimer's dise日月光半导体。

The other project is supported by Huxley Medical Inc., a company Yeo founded, to build a low-cost, wireless, polysomnography system. Polysomnography describes a certain kind of sleep study that involves measuring brain waves, heart rates, and other vital signs to help health professionals understand sleep disorders.

纳米技术进行营救

使这款新设备负担得起，易于大规模制造，最重要的是，无线将使患者在自己的房屋中舒适地将设备放在额头上，而不是访问面对面的睡眠实验室。

Yeo says thatnanotechnologyhelped him dream up a way to make the device small and unobtrusive enough that test subjects can forget they're wearing a monitor. "Basically, we will develop a new nanomanufacturing method that can print multiple nanomaterials to fabricate an integrated wireless sensor system," Yeo says. "Overall, this device will have an exceptionally small form factor," with a thickness less than five millimeters that weighs less than eight grams. "The device size is similar to or smaller than a credit card."

The soft electronics, mounted on a patient's forehead, will include multiple sensors to measure brain signals, as well as a蓝牙circuit. "It's basically offering the similar wireless functionality as an Apple watch, such that this device can be connected with any smartphone or tablet to record brain signals up to 20 meters away from the device," Yeo says.

Waking up to a new way to monitor sleep

The wearable sleep monitoring device developed by W. Hong Yeo.

Source: W. Hong Yeo

The team's project started in 2019 when Yeo contacted Duarte about his need to access a lab that measureselectroencephalograms (EEGs),显示大脑中的电活动。Yeo想检查他正在使用的其他设备，Duarte说，这种联系导致思考其他可能的合作。她说：“我立刻看到了潜力。”他分享说Yeo之前的纳米技术工作引起了她的注意。“当我看到他正在建立的东西时，我们才刚刚开始谈论。”

Yeo专注于“柔软，可穿戴的电子产品健康监测andhuman-computer interfaces，“根据他的研究网站。他以前已经设计了仿生材料或“皮肤样电子产品”。他的设备提案之一，放置在患有吞咽困难或吞咽困难的人的下巴下，会读取电子冲动到喉咙，旨在帮助患者学习如何再次吞咽。另一个项目使用超薄膜生物传感器这可以帮助患者无线控制机器人轮椅。杜阿尔特谈到设计时说：“他的设备，你忘记了他们的努力。”和“他们确实发送了您可以录制的高质量信号。”

She adds that while devices that monitor movements during sleep currently exist, "and you can learn things about sleep-wake cycles—it's objective data, but it's not brain activity. There were all of these reasons why I wanted to get to brain activity.

睡眠 - 记忆健康连接

杜阿尔特（Duarte）解释说，科学长期以来已经知道记忆与睡眠之间的联系。“看着人们睡觉时的大脑活动，您可以看到与记忆有关的活动模式。我们白天经历的活动在睡眠期间重播，并且可以增强记忆。”

Consistent nights of good sleep can translate into health benefits like stronger immune systems and better cardiovascular health, along with improved memory, Duarte adds. She shares that Alzheimer's patients are the subject of an unrelated sleep study. "There could be some things in sleep brain activities that serve as biomarkers of Alzheimer's pathology," she says. If that can be verified, a smaller sleep monitoring device could keep patients from requiring more invasive procedures like spinal taps or brain scans. "They could just wear this device at home."

Both Duarte and Yeo say the新冠肺炎大流行rearranged their testing schedule for the device. Test subjects, including older people, can't come in to labs to try out the device and have their data taken, but the researchers say they are getting ready to send them out for home testing. "Due to COVID-19, overall progress is slow," Yeo says. "However, we've made progress in device design and fabrication. I believe that we can start using one or two devices with human subjects in late August."

杜阿尔特说：“在我们确定我们的设计是高保真且不会轻易破裂之后，我们将开始将其邮寄给不同年龄的志愿者。”借助“蓝色牛仔裤或Zoom）这样的视频聊天平台，我们可以回答问题，因为他们将其放在头上。”