What if changes in health could be tracked before symptoms appear? Many diagnostic tests provide a snapshot: they show what is happening in the body at one specific moment. But health is dynamic. Biomarkers, such as proteins or metabolites, can change over time due to inflammation, disease, treatment or exposure to environmental factors.

That is why Dr. Alina Rwei’s team is developing a new generation of wearable biosensors. These miniaturized devices are designed to track biological signals in real time. In the future, this could open up new possibilities for earlier detection, more personalized treatment and health monitoring beyond the hospital.

This work is part of the Convergence Health & Technology Flagship Personalized, Real-Time Health Impact of Climate Change and Pollution, where researchers are developing technologies and analytical methods to better understand how environmental factors affect health at the molecular, individual and societal level.

Wearables that go beyond heart rate and steps

Many wearable devices measure physical signals, such as movement, heart rate or oxygen saturation. The sensors developed by dr. Rwei’s team aim to go a step further: they focus on molecular information from the body.

The team investigates how small amounts of body fluid, such as sweat or interstitial fluid, can be used to measure biomarkers. These signals can help researchers better understand how the body responds to disease, inflammation or environmental stress.

A key part of the technology is based on aptamers: synthetic DNA strands that can recognize specific biological targets, such as proteins or other biomarkers. In this context, DNA is not used as genetic information, but as a sensitive sensing element. Because aptamers can bind to their target and release it again, they are promising for sensors that need to monitor changes in the body continuously over time.

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From biosensing to real-world application

Within REALTIME, dr. Rwei’s team combines molecular recognition with sensor engineering. The ambition is to work towards wearable platforms that are sensitive and reliable enough to measure biological signals in realistic conditions.

This requires close collaboration across disciplines. TU Delft contributes expertise in biosensing, materials, molecular technology and sensor development. Erasmus MC adds clinical knowledge, including expertise from dermatology and immunology. Together, these perspectives help connect technology development to real health questions from an early stage.

The challenge is not only whether a sensor works in the lab. Ultimately, the technology also needs to function on or near the body, in different people and with very small amounts of body fluid. The team is therefore working step by step towards further development and validation.

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A foundation for new collaborations

The work within REALTIME also provides a foundation for follow-up projects and new collaborations. One recent example is iSense, a collaboration between TU Delft, Erasmus MC Dermatology and Imcomet within Medical Delta’s WorkTech program.

The scope of iSense is different from REALTIME, but the project builds on the biosensing technology and dermatology collaboration developed within the Flagship. In iSense, the partners are working on a diagnostic application for eczema, with the aim of helping personalize treatment more quickly and align it more closely with a patient’s underlying immune response.

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Potential impact

If wearable biosensors become reliable and clinically applicable, they could contribute to a new way of monitoring health. Patients may one day gain more insight into changes in their own health. Doctors could receive better information about what happens between consultations. And researchers could better understand how biomarkers change in response to disease, treatment or environmental factors.

In this way, the technology could support prevention, earlier detection and more personalized care. The ambition is to take wearable technology further: from general health data towards molecular information that can make health monitoring more dynamic and more personal.
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About the Flagship

This research is part of the Convergence Health & Technology Flagship Personalized, Real-Time Health Impact of Climate Change and Pollution. Within this Flagship, researchers from Erasmus MC, TU Delft and Erasmus University Rotterdam work together on technologies and analytical methods to better understand how climate change, pollution and other environmental factors affect health, from cells and tissues to individuals and society.