Biosensors for Personal Mobile Health: A System Architecture Perspective

Abstract

Advances in mobile biosensors, integrating developments in materials science and instrumentation, are fueling an expansion in health data being collected and analyzed in decentralized settings. For example, semiconductor‐based sensors are enabling measurement of vital signs, and microfluidic‐based sensors are enabling measurement of biochemical markers. As biosensors for mobile health are becoming increasingly paired with smart devices, it can become critical for researchers to design biosensors—with appropriate functionalities and specifications—to work seamlessly with accompanying connected hardware and software. Here, recent research in biosensors, as well as current mobile health devices in use is described and classified into four distinct system architectures that take into account the biosensing and data processing functions required in personal mobile health devices. The path forward for integrating biosensors into smartphone‐based mobile health devices is also discussed.

Lessons from COVID-19 for improving diagnostic access in future pandemics

“…The integration of biosensors into smartphone-based mobile health devices has allowed smartphone-based monitoring of vital signs, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation while point-of-care enzyme immunoassays can be powered by a smart phone through the use of a small portable diagnostic platform attached to the phone. 68 At the same time, epidemics are occurring more frequently, and with more severity. Of the 10 diseases of epidemic potential listed by the WHO, 69 there are significant gaps in the availability of diagnostics.…”

“…The integration of biosensors into smartphone-based mobile health devices has allowed smartphone-based monitoring of vital signs, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation while point-of-care enzyme immunoassays can be powered by a smart phone through the use of a small portable diagnostic platform attached to the phone. 68…”

Biomarkers for biosensors to monitor space-induced cardiovascular ageing

“…The different types of transducers are based on electrochemical principles (amperometric, potentiometric, or conductometric), optical principles (absorbance, reflectance, fluorescence), mass-sensitivity (piezo-electric), or thermal principles (calorimetric, pyroelectric) (Thevenot et al, 1999) (Figure 3). Biosensors are an important diagnostic tool already in use nowadays (e.g., pregnancy tests, rapid antigen tests for COVID-19) and have received increased interest for non-invasive wireless point of care applications (Arumugam et al, 2020;Heidt et al, 2020).…”

Wearable Soft Technologies for Haptic Sensing and Feedback

“…Wearable physiological monitoring devices have been an area of keen interest for personalized and mobile health applications, which has resulted in the development of noninvasive skin‐mounted biochemical sensors [ 16,199–201 ] (Figure 16C). Biochemical sensors measure biomarkers such as glucose, lactic acid, cationic ions, and pH found in samples of bodily fluids such as sweat, tears, and saliva.…”