Chronic wounds affect over 6.5 million people in the United States costing more than $25B annually. 23% of military blast and burn wounds do not close, affecting a military patient's bone, skin, nerves. Moreover, 64% of military trauma have abnormal bone growth into soft tissue. Slow healing of recalcitrant wounds is a known and persistent problem, with incomplete healing, scarring, and abnormal tissue regeneration. Precise control of wound healing depends on physician's evaluation, experience. Physicians generally provide conditions and time for body to either heal itself, or to accept and heal around direct transplantations, and their practice relies a lot on passive recovery. And while newer static approaches have demonstrated enhanced growth of non-regenerative tissue, they do not adapt to the changing state of wound, thus resulting in limited efficacy.

A method to manufacture stretchable circuit boards using silver ink for wearable applications.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have developed tactile feedback systems that enhance spatial and sensory resolution in sensor arrays through unique signal modulation techniques.

Scaled neural sensing has been pursued for decades. Physical limitations associated with electrical (electrode-based) field recordings hinder advances in both field of view and spatial resolution. Electrochromic plasmonics (electro-plasmonics) has emerged as a rapidly advancing field combining traditional electrochromic materials with plasmonic nanostructures, including recent demonstrations of electrochromic-loaded plasmonic nanoantennas for optical voltage sensing. Existing optical electrophysiology techniques face critical limitations including poor signal-to-noise ratios due to low photon counts from genetically encoded voltage indicators, which have small cross-sections and low quantum yields. Fluorescent voltage indicators suffer from photobleaching, phototoxicity, and require genetic modifications that limit their clinical applicability. Current electrochromic devices also struggle with limited cycling stability, slow switching times, and restricted color options, and conventional plasmonic sensors exhibit inherently low electric field sensitivity due to high electron densities of metals like gold and silver. Current approaches to electro-plasmonics lack stable, high-contrast optical modulators that can operate at sub-millisecond speeds while maintaining human biocompatibility.

A fully implantable brain-computer interface (BCI) system that enables direct brain control of lower extremity prostheses to restore walking after neural injury.

HydraFusion is a modular, selective sensor fusion framework designed to enhance performance and efficiency in multi-sensory computing systems across diverse contexts.

Pressure injuries (commonly called bedsores or pressure ulcers) represent one of the most persistent and costly challenges in healthcare, affecting over 2.5 million US patients and costing almost $27B in 2019. Hospital-acquired pressure injury events occur in about 3% in general populations and about 6% in intensive care units (ICUs). Current prevention strategies still rely on the Braden Scale risk assessment tool as the gold standard. Developed in the 80s, it is used to stratify patients into risk categories based on factors like sensory perception, moisture, mobility, and friction. The Braden score directly informs turning frequency as the standard of protocol. Unfortunately, medical staff adherence to turning protocols remains low at ~50% nationally, creating a gap between prescribed care and actual implementation. Technologies to help assess by sensing pressure injuries have limitations, including discontinuous monitoring requiring manual interpretation, and lack of objective mobility metrics. These fail to account for the complex interplay between pressure distribution, patient movement patterns, and individual risk factors. The Braden-scoring approach is particularly problematic as it does not account for the presence of existing pressure injuries or patient-specific factors, and has been shown to have inadequate validity for ICU patients. Additionally, current pressure mapping systems are typically large, expensive, and require specialized training, limiting their practical deployment in routine clinical care.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have developed technology that provides an advanced system for monitoring and supporting patient resuscitation and mechanical ventilation, enhancing clinical decision-making.

A novel sensor device leveraging hydrogel and metallic structures for passive, wireless environmental monitoring.

An advanced geometric method for comprehensive 3D cardiac strain analysis, enhancing diagnosis and monitoring of myocardial diseases.

A novel device leveraging centrifugal microfluidics to accelerate bacterial growth and rapidly determine antibiotic susceptibility.

This technology enhances the sensitivity of sensors through exceptional points of degeneracy in various circuit configurations.

A novel circuit design promoting enhanced sensitivity for electromagnetic sensing through exceptional points of degeneracy.

An innovative technique for creating high-sensitivity Whispering Gallery Mode (WGM) sensors through advanced microbubble resonator fabrication.

A revolutionary approach to wearable sensors that significantly extends read-out distances and improves reliability without the need for microelectronics.

A novel diagnostic technology offering rapid, accurate, and inexpensive detection, genotyping, and quantification of viral RNA in patient-derived samples, enhancing public health capabilities.

X-radiation (X-ray) imaging is one of the most common imaging techniques in medicine. Presently, thin-film transistor flat panel detectors are the gold standard for X-ray detection; however, these detectors average across the absorbed X-ray spectrum and thus suffer from poor material decomposition and lesion differentiation. Modern efforts to address this focus on three methods of energy differentiation: dual-shot, photon counting, and dual-layer detectors. Dual-shot detection utilizes a single detector to image a patient with two shots of X-rays at low and high energies. While this has been shown to effectively differentiate between soft and hard tissues, (e.g., chest radiography) this results in a higher dose level to the patient and motion artifacts from slight movement between images. Photon counting detectors offer an alternative to multiple shots, providing high spatial resolution, low dose, and multiple energy binning with photon weighting. However, these detectors also require more complex circuit design for fast readout, have limited material options with great enough yield and detective quantum efficiency at low to mid energy ranges, and are limited in detective area. Dual-layer detectors that stack two detector layers to each process low and high energy X-rays remove motion artifacts by utilizing a single shot of polyenergetic X-rays. These most commonly employ two indirect detectors separated by a Cu filtering layer, which photon-starves the second higher energy detector. Unfortunately, this also requires a higher X-ray intensity, resulting in a higher dose level to the patient.

A groundbreaking non-pharmacological approach to controlling resistant hypertension through personalized, closed-loop neurostimulation.

In PET imaging, patient motion, such as respiratory and cardiac motion, are a major source of blurring and motion artifacts. Researchers at the University of California, Davis have developed a technology designed to enhance PET imaging resolution without the need for external devices by effectively mitigating these artifacts

This technology introduces a flexible, secure, and scalable approach to creating body area networks (BANs) using textile-integrated metamaterials for advanced healthcare monitoring.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have developed method for separating quasi-periodic mixed-signals using a single data trace, enhancing wearable sensor applications.

An innovative air-based force sensor designed to enhance the safety and precision of surgical instrument insertions.

Sensors are used in a multitude of applications from molecular biology, chemicals detection to wireless communications. Researchers at the University of California Irvine have invented a new type of electronic circuit that utilizes exceptional points of degeneracy to improve the sensitivity of signal detection.

A revolutionary device for the diagnosis of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks with rapid, accurate, and low-volume sampling at the point of care.

This device offers a non-invasive solution for treating nasal airway obstructions, significantly improving recovery time and patient outcomes.