UCLA researchers in the Department of Psychiatry and the Department of Behavioral Sciences have developed a skin patch that tracks estradiol, progesterone, and luteinizing hormone for the accurate prediction of fertility windows.
BACKGROUND: Female reproductive hormones monitoring is required to accurately predict daily fertility for decision-making, and for clinical indications, such as the diagnosing of endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome, detection of peri-menopause, and assessing several types of cancers. Current methods of hormone detection rely on standard laboratory tests and assays, which can impose financial burden to patients, require time, and most importantly are not representative of a continuous measurement. There has been an increase in commercial wearable devices that can track biophysical markers such as heart rate, skin temperature, and respiratory rate, among others. A wearable device that can sense modalities throughout the menstrual cycle would increase the accuracy of ovulation prediction for both fertility reasons, as well as monitoring cycle irregularities.
INNOVATION: UCLA researchers led by Dr. Anne Andrews developed a wearable FET-based sensor capable of multiplexed hormone and physiological monitoring in artificial human sweat. It can detect 17β-Estradiol, progesterone and luteinizing hormone with high sensitivity. The sensor also allows the physiological monitoring of temperature and pH. In its current state, the device has electro-mechanical stability, and an on-demand sweat sampling platform amenable for diagnostic and fertility use.
POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS:
- Monitoring of various hormone levels
- Physiological measurement monitoring of temperature and pH
- Potential in-clinic and commercial uses for fertility monitoring
ADVANTAGES:
- The concept of this device can be readily expanded for non-invasive monitoring of a variety of biomarkers.
- High sensitivity of key female hormones
- Increased accessibility through a wearable device
DEVELOPMENT-TO-DATE: The results of this discovery have been validated for a proof-of-concept demonstration and clinical/commercial fertility monitoring is yet to be addressed.
Related Papers (from the inventors only): Wang, B., et al. Wearable aptamer-field-effect transistor sensing system for noninvasive cortisol monitoring. Science Advances, 8, eabk0967, 2022.
Keywords: medical device, device monitoring, wearable device, hormone tracking, physiological marker tracking, diagnostics