KERMIT · Kidney Disease Sweat sensor patch for Early diagnosis and Remote MonIToring

Human sweat is abundant with biomarkers with information about underlying health conditions. In combination with the capabilities of wearable devices, sweat monitoring provides a promising pathway to continuous healthcare. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a long-term condition in which waste cannot be removed from the blood stream and can lead to recurring infections and early cardiovascular disease. It affects over 100 million people in Europe alone and can go unnoticed until severe symptoms appear. Thus, there is enormous potential to develop non-invasive mass screening technologies for early diagnosis and monitoring leading to preventive treatment.Here, we propose a kidney disease sweat patch for early detection and remote monitoring (KERMIT). By merging three main concepts: the development of a cost-effective, and disposable sensing platform with minimal environmental impact; the unobtrusive detection of 3 CKD biomarkers (cystatin-c, creatinine, and urea) from sweat; and the association of sweat-based concentration with blood levels, symptoms, and overall disease progress. The simplified disposable platform includes an iontophoresis device to produce sweat, a microfluidics collection system, and a single chip to power, read, analyze, and wirelessly transmit data from various electrochemical sensors through smartphone RF/NFC protocols. The manufacturing through scalable printing techniques with sustainable materials ensures cost-effectiveness while minimizing and environmental impact after disposal. Through quantitative comparison with standard testing methodologies, the proposed system is envisioned to increase the knowledge and validate sweat-based non-invasive diagnostics for CKD and a variety of diseases. This will allow -invasive routine screening of populations at risk and remote health monitoring, opening opportunities for targeted hospital and government health programs.