Wearable bioelectronics are all the craze sooner or later. Nearly each science fiction movie and tv present appears to incorporate some form of sensor or communications machine that adheres to the pores and skin and provides a gradual stream of information.
Developing the correct material immediately for that form of technology — one thing that’s versatile, sturdy, dependable and conductive — is a fragile stability of things to make it each purposeful and cozy.
New analysis from Binghamton University places us nearer to an answer. In a recent paper published in Advanced Materials Technologies, a group from the Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science’s Department of Biomedical Engineering has developed a promising technique to create multifunctional fibrous mats that can be utilized in lots of medical functions.
Working in Associate Professor Ahyeon Koh’s lab, Joab Dorsainvil, MS ’23, PhD ’25, led work on a brand new variation of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), a silicone-based and biologically inert material broadly used for versatile and stretchable electronics. To fight the water-repelling (hydrophobic) nature of PDMS, the Binghamton group added a polymer known as polyethylene glycol (PEG) that’s water-friendly (hydrophilic).
Koh known as the ultrathin, nonwoven and stretchable mat “a groundbreaking material for bio-integrated bioelectronics.”
“Joab led this collaborative project within the Biomedical Engineering Department,” she mentioned, “and he worked alongside undergraduate and master’s researchers as well as other PhD candidates from various fields of expertise. I am very excited about this and the future collaborative work that lies ahead.”
The interlocked constructions of the fibrous mats are shaped via electrospinning, a course of that makes use of electrical fields to provide ultrafine polymer fibers within the nanometer to micrometer vary. The porous material is healthier for wearable electronics.
“Conventional substrates are mainly film-based,” Dorsainvil mentioned. “If you wear them on your skin long term, sweat accumulates underneath the film and doesn’t allow for breathability. We were looking to create a similar type of material, but have it be fibrous.”
Another discovery: The new material is extra pleasant to cell adhesion, suggesting potential for long-term organic and medical functions.
“We compared the fiber mats with and without PEG, and the fiber mats with PEG had exceptional cell adhesion and biocompatibility,” Dorsainvil mentioned. “That’s really promising in terms of future studies about how that could be implemented.”
Serena Patel ’25 and Dana Manashirov ’25 labored on the undertaking as undergraduates, and they’re grateful they bought the possibility to do revealed analysis.
“I knew some people who were involved in Dr. Koh’s lab, so I reached out to her, and she put me on some of the master’s students’ projects,” Patel mentioned. “I started shadowing another student at the end of my sophomore year, so that’s how I got involved.”
Dorsainvil loved having them as analysis colleagues and mentoring them via irritating moments, corresponding to when the electrospinning machine wasn’t cooperating or they might not get the required circuitry printed onto the material.
“I treated them like PhD students, because that’s how hands-on they were,” he mentioned. “Working with them was really a breeze. They’re very reliable. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
In November, Manashirov and Patel introduced their work on the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) convention.
“Going to the conference was a wonderful opportunity where I got to engage with fellow researchers, and hearing their perspectives not only strengthened my work but also deepened my appreciation for the collaborative spirit of the field,” Manashirov mentioned. “My poster on the fluidic applications of electrospun PDMS-PEG fibers details the fabrication and use of the fibers for a fluidic device, with the use of paraffin wax printing.”
Now that she’s earned her bachelor’s diploma. Patel will proceed her schooling at Binghamton within the fall to pursue her grasp’s in biomedical engineering.
“Going somewhere else and doing a two-year program didn’t seem like something I wanted to do, especially because I’ve already been here and I have connections with professors,” she mentioned. “It made sense to stay just one more year and continue what I’m doing already.”
Manashirov additionally will pursue a grasp’s diploma via Binghamton’s Executive Health Systems Manhattan program, supplied by Watson College’s School of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering. Dorsainvil is looking for a postdoctoral place at an instructional establishment or a task in business.
Also contributing to the brand new analysis are PhD scholar Jafar Batayneh, Maya McDonald ’22, MS ’23 (now a biotech manufacturing specialist at Regeneron), Natalie Pachter, PhD ’24 (now a postdoctoral scholar at Case Western Reserve University) and Associate Professor Tracy Hookway.