Unmet Need
More than 70,000 people worldwide live with cystic fibrosis (CF) and approximately 1,000 new cases of CF arise every year. Though most people are diagnosed with CF by the age of 2, some people are diagnosed as adults. Adult diagnoses are usually difficult because they are confirmed by a sweat chloride test which is not a standard test that most people take on a regu-lar basis. However, sweat contains important information on overall health state and should be reviewed more often. Thus, there is a need for a way to test the different concentration of com-ponents in sweat on a more regular basis.
Technology Overview
The inventors have developed a wearable sensor for the measurement of chloride ion concen-tration in sweat for use in diagnosis and clinical management of CF patients. The sensor can also be used as a wearable fitness sensor and contains a potentiometric sensor. This sensor comprises of a substrate with a through hole, a working electrode in contact with sweat on the skin, and a reference electrode on the opposite side of the substrate. The reference electrode is partially covered by a reference solution hydrogel, and a salt bridge is formed in the through hole where one side of the salt bridge faces the sweat on the skin and the other side touches the reference solution hydrogel, wherein an iconic path between the reference electrode and the working electrode is formed through the salt bridge.
Stage of Development
A prototype of the technology is under development.
