PIPages
Labs

Ismail Araci

Santa Clara University, CA·Biomedical Engineering·Early-career

Musculoskeletal disorders, which affect muscles, bones and joints, are the leading cause of disability worldwide. They are rising as the population ages, and physical rehabilitation is the main treatment.

Fields

Biomedical Engineering

Engineering

Topics

wearable sensors

skin-mountable biosensors

microfluidics

Grants
1 known grant, through Aug 2027

What they work on

  1. Measure how skin stretches during specific movements, such as facial or shoulder rehabilitation exercises, using digital image correlation to map skin strain fields, and use these patterns as a driving force for microfluidics.
  2. Design capillaric sensor networks, tiny fluid-channel circuits pumped by body movement, with electrical readouts for real-time wireless data transfer and image-based readouts for fluidic data storage.
  3. Build a microfluidic computer-aided design tool that models capillaric circuits as electrical circuits, to choose device parameters for analog and digital signal processing in the fluid.
  4. Develop manufacturing methods for large-area, skin-conforming microfluidic devices and stable electrode-ionic liquid interfaces, and validate a wireless rehabilitation-tracking patch on volunteers.

More about the research

Patients and clinicians have little way to track whether exercises are done often enough and with correct form. A wearable device that counts and checks specific movements could improve how well patients follow their therapy. It could also support studies linking rehabilitation exercises to health outcomes.

Why it matters

People recovering from musculoskeletal injuries and disorders often do rehabilitation exercises at home with no feedback on whether they are doing them correctly. A thin, low-power skin patch that counts repetitions and checks form could help patients stay on track. It could give therapists data on progress and support clinical studies of which exercises improve health outcomes.

Known grants

From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.

CAREER: Human motion driven capillaric circuits for skin-mountable biosensors

NSF · Sep 2021 – Aug 2027

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The school

Santa Clara University: 8 labs on PI Pages, $8M a year on research, 24 research doctorates a year.

More about Santa Clara University

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