Research Projects

Despite the fact that the term ""stress"" is used in a variety of situations in daily life, it has been proven that people who are constantly stressed have unbalanced physical and mental performance, leading to stress-related disabilities. In the following decade, the worldwide economic burden of stress-related mental disease is also expected to climb. As the socioeconomic need for chronic stress management is increasing, it is vital to take a proactive approach to the problem by developing a prediction model. Early diagnosis is critical in this strategy for prompt identification and treatment of patients at risk. A lot of sensor devices (patch type on to skin) are developed in this aspects utilizing microfluidic technology combined with electrochemistry and monitoring the results via a mobile application. The problems with such sensor devices is their questionable biocompatibility and issues related to their continuous need for power supply. The current research proposal intends to develop MOF-ssDNA integrated smart textiles (sensor pad) using colorimetry for cortisol detection from sweat. It will be developed in two stages; in the first half, functionalization of fabric swatches with suitable MOF followed by integrating with ssDNA will be done. The functionalized fabric will be used as an electrochemical sensor to detect cortisol levels over different range of concentrations. In the later half, textile sensor pad will be developed to use as a disposable sweat pad. The smart sweat pad can absorb sweat and depending on the cortisol concentration in the sweat, the smart pad will change its color. The cortisol percentage can be determined visually by the shade of the pad.