A mask that can detect viruses – who wouldn’t want one?
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the medical equipment industry has become more important than ever before. At the same time, awareness of diagnostic procedures, forms of treatment and personal healthcare in general continues to rise, driving growth in the family healthcare and equipment market. Technological advancements such as digitization, intelligence, connectivity, and mobility have also promoted the development of medical digital technology, growing and diversifying the industry at an unprecedented rate.
Meanwhile, the sensor products that are integral to medical equipment have received a lot of attention. They play a key role in data collection not only in the industrial field and electronic equipment sector, but also in the healthcare industry.
Wide Variety of Test Methods
During the pandemic, high-quality testing of the population for COVID-19 has been a high priority among response measures. The massive demand for frequent, low-cost, fast, large-volume and accurate tests has led to the emergence of new sensors with high sensitivity and speed. Domestic and foreign manufacturers, as well as R&D teams, have made varying degrees of progress in the research and development of new sensors.
Engineers from MIT and Harvard University have jointly developed a new type of mask that embeds sensors in the fabric and can diagnose whether the wearer has COVID-19 in just 90 minutes, with an accuracy comparable to standard PCR tests.
The design of these disposable sensors is based on freeze-dried cell-free reaction components. As proteins and nucleic acids generate synthetic gene networks that react with specific target molecules which may be embedded in the paper, based on Clustered, Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) technology, high-sensitivity detection of nucleic acids can be achieved.
These components can be used for cells to read DNA and produce RNA and protein molecules. After being extracted from the cells, they are freeze-dried and can be kept stable for several months until they are activated by liquids. After that, the components interact with the target DNA or RNA sequence (for example: COVID-19 antigen), and if a substance is detected, the color will change. When embedded in synthetic fabric, sensors are surrounded by a silicone ring to prevent the sample from evaporating or spreading beyond the sensors.
To achieve faster and more extensive COVID-19 testing, US scientists have designed two biosensors based on viral proteins that can identify specific molecules on the surface of a virus. When mixed with the components of COVID-19 or antibodies that target the virus, the sensors will emit light through biochemical reactions.
In view of this, the research team also invented another biosensor, which also emits light when mixed with antibodies to COVID-19. This sensor does not react to other antibodies in the blood, including antibodies against other viruses, which is crucial in order to avoid false positives.
Last year, based on gold nanostructures prepared on a glass matrix, a Swiss research team developed a biosensor that can accurately and reliably detect the presence of the COVID-19 virus in the air. The researchers "grafted" a synthetic DNA receptor that matches the RNA sequence of the COVID-19 virus on to the gold nanostructures, so that they can recognize this virus. The process of detecting viruses via this new type of sensor also uses two different effects, namely “localized surface plasmon resonance” (LSPR) and “plasmonic photothermal” (PPT) effects, to increase its reliability.
An interdisciplinary research team formed by professors from the School of Chemical Science and Technology of Yunnan University and researchers from related laboratories has also developed an electrochemical sensor that can detect the COVID-19 virus. Because the electrochemical sensor is easy to operate, low in testing costs, and provides higher sensitivity and accuracy, it is expected to deliver a new test method for prevention, control, and diagnosis during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Digital Transformation in the Medical Equipment Field
Sensors play a crucial role in digitization, the driving force that is revolutionizing the medical industry today. The development of new medical sensor technology has given rise to innovative medical concepts, and new monitoring methods have replaced the large and fixed medical monitoring equipment used in hospitals in the past. Now, hospitals are using a new generation of equipment that is typically small, often in the form of wearable devices; operates on very low power consumption, such as battery-powered mobile devices; and provides more accurate clinical-level measurement results.
This trend has encouraged many industrial automation companies to step up their deployment efforts in the medical field. Research teams around the world are also working hard to develop new sensor technologies in addition to traditional sensor technologies.
Sensors: Boosting the Development of the Medical Industry
Sensors have been widely embraced by the medical industry because they greatly improve the safety, reliability, and stability of medical equipment. Highly sensitive and accurate physical, chemical, and biological sensors have been designed and incorporated into equipment to measure and record various physiological parameters of the human body.
In medical equipment-related industries, the majority of sensors monitor and control various parameters such as flow, pressure, humidity, temperature, infrared light and oxygen, while supporting stable operations. For example, thermometers and devices for measuring heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate and other parameters require infrared sensors under normal epidemic conditions; the air control systems found in many hospitals use highly accurate differential pressure sensors; and temperature and humidity sensors are vital components of the equipment used in the production, storage, and transportation of vaccines.
Clearly, small sensors play an extremely important role in the medical industry and have huge potential for growth. According to the latest report data from MarketsandMarkets, the global medical sensor market is expected to grow from US$1.8 billion in 2021 to US$3 billion in 2026, with a compound annual growth rate of 10.3% during the 2021-2026 period.
Development Trends
It is clear that the medical equipment industry is becoming more digital, connected, intelligent and professional. It is a multi-disciplinary, knowledge-intensive, capital-intensive high-tech industry, involving the medical, machinery, digital, and plastic industries among many others. Based on digitization and computerization, modern medical equipment is a multi-disciplinary and cross-field high-tech achievement.
Industry forecasts show that medical equipment manufacturing technology will follow these trends:
- Computer technology will become more widely used in medical equipment.
- Hardware devices will become more intelligent and supported by more mature information databases. The internal functions of devices and systems will also become more complex, and the external operation methods more concise.
- More intelligent and simplified products will continue to extend healthcare beyond hospitals to communities and families.
- In the product development process, biology and physics engineering design will become deeply cross-integrated, with a clear trend towards compound integration.
In summary, sensors are revolutionizing the medical industry. New and emerging technologies such as sensors will continue to improve methods of medical diagnosis and treatment, preventing human suffering and saving vast numbers of lives in the process.
