Improving Patient Outcomes with Clearer Health Monitoring Data
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, heart disease and its effects is the leading cause of death in the U.S. across a majority of racial and ethnic groups. Globally, the risk factors for developing heart disease, such as obesity and diabetes have grown by huge margins, increasing the future impact of heart disease on society and medical infrastructures. As with many chronic, or long-term, health issues, the successful management of heart disease can greatly improve a patient’s lifespan and quality.
This successful management requires the collection of large datasets of the electrical signal of a patient’s heart gathered from long-term measurements using an electrocardiogram (ECG) device. In the past, ECG data was collected in controlled clinical settings, however the development of new electronic materials and internet-connected devices have allowed the ECG to become a portable, wearable and commercially available product. Although these products are a great benefit to the patient users, they are not without flaws. The everyday motions of a patient, from walking to brushing their teeth, can alter the ECG data. These false recordings, called motion artifacts (MAs), can make it difficult for clinicians to detect abnormal heart rhythms that may be the signal of the onset of a heart attack.
Corrective solutions to the issue of MAs have, thus far, been either expensive to implement, such as filtering software, or cause discomfort to the wearer, such as tighter strap attachments and stronger, skin irritating adhesives. The team of W. Hong Yeo, Associate Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering & PI of the Yeo Group & Director of Center for HCIE, working with partners at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and Emory University have designed a flexibly packaged wireless wearable ECG device using a new class of strain-isolating materials that reduces MAs, induced by movement in the skin/sensor contact area.
The team’s new strain-isolated, wearable soft bioelectronic system (SIS) adheres naturally to the skin using a breathable soft membrane for continuous conformal contact. A pair of nanomembrane mesh electrodes and a thin-film circuit powered by rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are placed on a thin layer of silicone gel to allow a greater range of motion and packaged within a low modulus silicone elastomer. In testing the design against commercially available skin-mounted biosensors, the team’s new device provides real-time wireless data of multiple physiological signals with a significant reduction in MA interference. Additionally, and most importantly, the device trial participants exhibited no device lamination issues, excessive sweating, signal degradation, or increased skin irritation.
Yeo and his team are pleased with their results to-date but have plans to take the research even further. The team seeks an even smaller device footprint by integrating fan-out wafer-level packaging and developing all-printing fabrication methods. Additionally, the team is planning large-scale clinical studies in cardiology and pediatrics to monitor the health status of both inpatient and outpatient groups on a continuous basis
- Christa M. Ernst
Rodeheaver, N., Herbert, R., Kim, Y.-S., Mahmood, M., Kim, H., Jeong, J.-W., Yeo, W.-H., Strain-Isolating Materials and Interfacial Physics for Soft Wearable Bioelectronics and Wireless, Motion Artifact-Controlled Health Monitoring. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2021, 2104070. https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202104070
Improving Patient Outcomes with Clearer Health Monitoring Data
Demonstration of a new strain-isolated, wearable soft bioelectronic system from the lab of W. Hong Yeo, Associate Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering & PI of the Yeo Group & Director of Center for HCIE and partners at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and Emory University. The new system reduces motion artifacts in wearable ECG and biosensors caused by patient movement.
Flexible Stress Monitor Wins First CDAIT Student IoT Challenge
The winning team made up of three College of Engineering students: Nathan Zavanelli, a Ph.D. student in bioengineering; Sung Hoon Lee, a Ph.D. student in electrical engineering, and Kimberly Lie, a bachelor’s student in computer engineering. They will share a $5,000 scholarship award. Their faculty advisor was Woo Hong Yeo, assistant professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.
A proposal for a wearable patch to monitor cognitive stress has won the inaugural Student IoT Innovation Capacity Building Challenge sponsored by Ivan Allen College’s Center for the Development and Application of Internet of Things Technologies (CDAIT).
The first-place team project was the “Wearable, long-duration physiological cognitive stress monitoring IoT system.” The stress monitor — designed by Zavanelli, Lee, and Lie — is meant to assist people living with cognitive disabilities, who often have anxiety, fear, and depression. The monitor, a soft chest-worn patch, wirelessly measures chest vibrations caused by heartbeats. An associated smartphone app uses real-time signal processing and machine learning to identify markers of cognitive stress.
“This system is a marked improvement over traditional methods, which either involve obtrusive wired monitoring or imprecise written surveys or subjective caregiver evaluations because it provides continuous monitoring of objective physiological manifestations of cognitive stress,” the team said in their summary report.
Meet the Yeo Team at the Bio-Interfaced Translational Nanoengineering Group the @ Center for Human-Centric Interfaces and Engineering
Research Topics
- Soft Robotics and Human-Machine Interfaces - Smart Machine Intelligence and Deep Learning - Soft Electronics for Health Monitoring and Disease Diagnosis - Nanomembrane Implantable Electronics for Therapeutics - High-throughput Fabrication of Micro/Nano-structures - Nano-Biosensors for Disease Diagnostics - Sensors and Actuators for Radiotherapy
Lab PI: Dr. W. Hong Yeo, Associate Professor | Director of the IEN Center for Human-Centric Interfaces and Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering & Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech
Yeo is an Associate Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, and the Director of the Center for Human-Centric Interfaces and Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. His research focuses on the areas of nano-/microengineering, advanced soft materials, molecular interactions, and bio-electromechanical systems, with an emphasis on stretchable hybrid electronics. Dr. Yeo received his PhD in mechanical engineering at the University of Washington, Seattle in 2011. From 2011-2013, he worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Beckman Institute and Frederick Seitz Materials Research Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Yeo has published over 90 peer-reviewed articles, including many in top-quality journals, including Nature Machine Intelligence, Nature Materials, Nature Communications, and Science Advances. Dr. Yeo is an IEEE Senior Member and a recipient of a number of awards, including Lucy G. Moses Lectureship Award - Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Sensors Young Investigator Award, American Heart Association Innovative Project Award, Outstanding Yonsei Scholar Award, Hanwha Non-Tenure Faculty Award, Samsung Global Research Outreach Award, and Biomedical Engineering Society Innovation and Career Development Award.
Recent Publications from the Yeo Group
M. Mahmood, S. Kwon, H. Kim, Y. Kim, P. Siriaraya, J. Choi, B. Otkhmezuri, K. Kang, K. Yu, Y. Jang, C. Ang, and W. H. Yeo* "Wireless Soft Scalp Electronics and Virtual Reality System for Motor Imagery-Based Brain-Machine Interfaces" Advanced Science, 2101129, 2021 (In press).
H. Kim, Y. Kwon, C. Zhu, F. Wu, S. Kwon, W. H. Yeo*, and H. Choo* "Real-time functional assay of volumetric muscle loss injured mouse masseter muscles via nanomembrane electronics" Advanced Science, 2101037, 2021. [LINK] [PDF]
C. Demolder, A. Molina, F. Hammond, and W. H. Yeo* "Recent Advances in Wearable Biosensing Gloves and Sensory Feedback Biosystems for Enhancing Rehabilitation, Prostheses, Healthcare, and Virtual Reality" Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 190, 113443, 2021. [LINK] [PDF]
N. Zavanelli, J. Kim, and W. H. Yeo* "Recent Advances in High-Throughput Nanomaterial Manufacturing for Hybrid Flexible Bioelectronics" Materials, 14, 2973, 2021. [LINK] [PDF]
R. Herbert, H. Lim, S. Park, J. Kim, and W. H. Yeo*, "Recent Advances in Printing Technologies of Nanomaterials for Implantable Wireless Systems in Health Monitoring and Diagnosis", Advanced Healthcare Materials, 2100158, 2021. [LINK] [PDF]
Cleanroom Corner
IEN Biocleanroom Seminar on Cell Manufacturing: Nanoscale 3D Printing & Antibody-Antigen Binding Analysis
Tune in Tuesday July 20th, at 1PM for a 1 hour seminar on all of the tools, and processes available for your research team at the IEN.
3D Printing
Harness the power of the Nanoscribe, a nanoscale 3D printer that has been used to rapidly prototype microfluidic devices, as well as create advanced protien pattern substrates and PDMS molds.
SPR Analysis
The Biacore T200, can give kinetic, affinity, and specificity data for any ligand-analyte interaction. Some applications include Antibody - Antigen specific interactions, Metal Nanoparticle delivery to specific binding sites, and Covid 19 rapid test development
This is an image of a new leaf, showcasing the hydrated samples that can be viewed using the Variable pressure SEM. The Tool can image hydrogels, cells and non-dry samples!
Come prepared with your research Questions!
We will have a Q&A session after the presentation!
Find a complete list of our tools and more at biocleanroom.gatech.edu
For more information, contact Philip Anschutz at: phil-a@gatech.edu 404.520.8289
Recent Awards
Wang Appointed as IEEE MTT-S Distinguished Microwave Lecturer
Hua Wang has been appointed as a Distinguished Microwave Lecturer for the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S) for the period of 2022-2024. Wang is an associate professor in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE).
An IEEE MTT-S Distinguished Microwave Lecturer typically deliver five to seven talks per year. For each class of these lecturers, only three or four are selected worldwide each year. Manos Tentzeris, who is ECE’s Ken Byers Professor in Flexible Electronics, previously served in this role from 2010-2012.
During his two-year term as an IEEE MTT-S Distinguished Microwave Lecturer, Wang will lecture on broadband and energy-efficient RF/mm-Wave/THz integrated circuits and systems for beyond-5G and 6G communications and sensing. He will also speak on wireless systems for ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC), sensing, and hardware security.
Wang is the director of the Georgia Tech Center of Circuits and Systems (CCS), and he leads the Georgia Tech Electronics and Micro-Systems (GEMS) Lab. His research interests include innovating analog, RF, mm-Wave, and THz integrated circuits and hybrid systems for wireless communications, sensing, and bioelectronics applications.
Steven Y. Liang awarded 2021 SME Gold Medal
Steven Y. Liang was awarded the SME Gold Medal in recognition of his significant contributions to the manufacturing engineering profession in scientific and technical communications through extensive publications and other means that have substantially expanded scientific fundamentals as well as engineering principles for the understanding and improvement of metal removal and additive manufacturing processes, equipment and quality
Liang has a PhD from University of California-Berkeley and is Morris M. Bryan Jr. Professor for Advanced Manufacturing Systems at the School of Mechanical Engineering. He has made numerous contributions to manufacturing research and engineering in leadership and communications. Liang’s studies on physics-based analysis of precision machining and metal additive manufacturing have provided significantly broader fundamental understanding of manufacturing science and led to essential improvements in processes, equipment, quality and competitiveness.
Liang served as President of NAMRI | SME, Scientific Chair of Transactions of NAMRI, Chair of MED/ASME, organizer of many flagship international conferences and is Technical Editor of the International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing.
Societal and Ethical Implications: Looking Back at 20 Years of Nano in Society | A Panel Discussion
July 21, 2021 | 4PM - 5PM EDT
David Berube, North Carolina State University & Andrew Maynard, Arizona State University | Moderated by Jameson Wetmore, Arizona State University
Abstract: In a major address at Caltech in 2000, President Bill Clinton unveiled the National Nanotechnology Initiative and proposed doubling the federal funding for nanoscale research in the United States. President Clinton gave the speech in front of a map of the Western hemisphere created out of gold atoms. Looking back at it he joked: ”I think you will find more enduring uses of nanotechnology.” Since that day the federal government has poured billions of dollars into nanoscale R&D and scientists and engineers have indeed found more enduring uses. Questions, concerns, and excitement about the social aspects and implications of nanotechnology have accompanied this effort every step of the way. This panel brings together two scholars who have played important roles in exploring nano in society over the past twenty years. They will reflect on the changes in the way that scholars, governments, corporations, and the general public engage with nanotechnology over the last two decades.
Bio: David Berube is Professor of Science and Technology Communication, North Carolina State University and Director of Assessment & Societal and Ethical Implications of Nanotechnology for the Research Triangle Nanotechnology Network. Beginning in 2004, he was Research Director and Coordinator of Industrial and Government Relations of the University of South Carolina NanoCenter and has been involved in nano and society ever since, m including serving as the director of communication for the International Council on Nanotechnology.
Bio: Andrew Maynard is an Associate Dean & Professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society and he College of Global Futures at Arizona State University. After completing a PhD on aerosol particle physics, he began to focus more and more on issues of safety, policy, and society and by 2005 was Chief Science Advisor at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars’ Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies.
Bio: Jameson Wetmore is Associate Director for SEI at the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure Coordinating Office and Deputy Director of Nanotechnology Collaborative Infrastructure Southwest. He began working on nanotechnology as part of the Center for Nanotechnology in Society at ASU in 2006.
M-CELS Virtual Seminar Series | Bio-machines July 23, 2021 | 4PM EDT
Multi-cellular engineered living systems (M-CELS) are purpose-driven living systems with multiple interacting living components. They are engineered for specific goals or functions but take emergence into account during the design process, allowing the final system to emerge through natural and non-natural biological processes. M-CELS research is intended to provide a fundamental engineering understanding that enables a quantitative approach bridging between single cells and organs or organisms.
Taher Saif | Professor, Mechanical Science and Engineering: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
4:00PM Lecture | “Biohybrid Machines – Opportunities and Challenges” 4:20PM Q & A Discussion Session
Jiaojiao Wang | Graduate Student; Bashir Lab, Bioengineering: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
4:30PM Lecture | “Design, Fabrication, and Control Considerations for
Next-Generation Biobots”
4:50PM Q & A Discussion Session
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Testing continues to be available during the summer. If you're on campus and have not been vaccinated, keep testing weekly to help make campus as safe and healthy as possible.
Our mailing address is:
Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology
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Corrective solutions to the issue of MAs have, thus far, been either expensive to implement, such as filtering software, or cause discomfort to the wearer, such as tighter strap attachments and stronger, skin irritating adhesives. The team of W. Hong Yeo, Associate Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering & PI of 
The winning team made up of three College of Engineering students: Nathan Zavanelli, a Ph.D. student in bioengineering; Sung Hoon Lee, a Ph.D. student in electrical engineering, and Kimberly Lie, a bachelor’s student in computer engineering. They will share a $5,000 scholarship award. Their faculty advisor was Woo Hong Yeo, assistant professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.
