Over the last decade, there has been widespread consumer adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) devices for selfmonitoring of health and fitness. Wearable devices for instance now allow the general public to gather biometric and health-related data such as activity levels, sleep patterns, and heart rate metrics. These devices and the continuous data they generate are revolutionizing how people think about some of these metrics. Eventually, people will come to expect readily available information that can only be gathered by sampling biological samples such as sweat, saliva, blood or urine. As an example, the market has already seen the emergence of DNA ancestry tests and microbiome tests. However, a barrier to larger adoption of biomarker testing relates to ease of use; the collection of these biological samples is often a complex multi-step operation. Traditionally the field of microfluidics is regarded as the perfect tool to enable sensor miniaturization and small volume fluid handling for complex multi-step operations in point of care or clinical environments. Microfluidics is therefore well positioned to contribute to the development of new technologies for these exploding new markets. For direct to consumers applications, however, microfluidics will play a significant role in creating simple user experiences for sample collection and accurate biomarker testing. This review highlights trends and provides a technology development framework for those interested in developing microfluidics for consumer electronics for health applications.

Date Published: 4 March 2019
PDF: 4 pages
Proc. SPIE 10875, Microfluidics, BioMEMS, and Medical Microsystems XVII, 1087510 (4 March 2019); doi: 10.1117/12.2516009

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 10875:
Microfluidics, BioMEMS, and Medical Microsystems XVII
Bonnie L. Gray; Holger Becker, Editor(s)