La Profusa, a biotechnology company in San Francisco, has received $ 7.5 million in funding from #DARPA for the development of his proprietary technology on a tiny implantable biosensor: it's another plus for the constantly developing Super Soldiers.
Lenders aim to develop technologies that can provide real-time monitoring.
About what? Soldiers' vital signs, in order to improve mission efficiency. The sensors, developed with a special "smart hydrogel" not unlike that used for modern contact lenses, form a porous and biocompatible container capable of reacting to light to produce information on the concentration of specific biomarkers.
"The company's vision is to create a real dashboard with a combination of sensor and software that can show data on oxygen, glucose, lactate, urea and ions in real time," he says. Ben Hwang, CEO of Profusa.
With a length of about 3-5mm and a diameter of 500 microns, each minisensor is a fiber designed to be biologically compatible with human tissues to provide monitoring for up to 2 years without deterioration or rejection.
A handheld or wearable device equipped with an optical reader will receive the fluorescent signals from the biosensor, allowing the data to be read. The fields of use are many, from medical applications to military use: the real-time reading of vital parameters can allow the user to make faster and more useful decisions, to improve their health or better manage chronic ailments such as Diabetes. The data can also be transmitted to medical centers authorized to receive and process them.