Summary:
UCLA researchers in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering have developed a touch-based sensor for non-invasive, real-time, and accurate lithium-ion monitoring in patients.
Background:
Lithium salt is one of the most widely utilized psychiatric medications for individuals with bipolar disorder. However, it is difficult to translate its effectiveness into positive patient outcomes due to its narrow therapeutic window, severe adverse effects if overdosed, and poor adherence rate from patients (~60%). Lithium monitoring is one tool to overcome the drawbacks of lithium salt treatment. Traditionally, lithium monitoring for precision dosing is carried out at centralized hospitals and involve invasive blood draws with expensive and sluggish lab-based analysis techniques. Indirect lithium intake monitoring (e.g., pill counters) are available but incapable of verifying actual intake events. Non-invasive, direct lithium monitoring exists, albeit with poor accuracy due to drifting of lithium concentration signals and poor readout stability. There remains an unmet need for direct, accurate, and real-time lithium monitoring.
Innovation:
Prof. Emaminejad and his team of researchers in the UCLA Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering have developed a touch sensor capable of determining lithium-ion concentrations. Recent studies have shown that many circulating biomarker molecules partition onto the fingertip surface with high flux. By taking advantage of this flux, lithium ions can be sensed in-situ via a touch of a finger. Combining aspects of ion-selective electrodes and thin hydrogel coatings, this innovative sensor overcomes instability issues often associated with typical sensing modalities, leading to accurate and non-invasive lithium monitoring. Patient validation from both ex-situ and in-situ settings demonstrated the reliability of lithium sensing on human subjects and paves the way for this device to be used for both pharmacotherapy and adherence monitoring.
Potential Applications:
• Lithium adherence monitoring
• Bipolar treatment monitoring
• Biomarker monitoring
• Fingerprint sensing
Advantages:
• Non-invasive
• Real-time monitoring
• “Plug-and-sense” operation
Development to Date:
Invention fully reduced to practice and has been demonstrated successfully with human subject validation
Reference: UCLA Case No. 2023-039
Lead Inventor: Sam Emaminejad