Miniaturized electromechanical devices for the characterization of the biomechanics of deep tissue

Enming Song; Zhaoqian Xie; Wubin Bai; Haiwen Luan; Bowen Ji; Xin Ning; Yu Xia; Janice Mihyun Baek; Yujin Lee; Raudel Avila; Huang-Yu Chen; Jae-Hwan Kim; Surabhi Madhvapathy; Kuanming Yao; Dengfeng Li; Jingkun Zhou; Mengdi Han; Sang Min Won; Xinyuan Zhang; Daniel J Myers; Yongfeng Mei; Xu Guo; Shuai Xu; Jan-Kai Chang; Xinge Yu; Yonggang Huang; John A Rogers

doi:10.1038/s41551-021-00723-y

Miniaturized electromechanical devices for the characterization of the biomechanics of deep tissue

Nat Biomed Eng. 2021 Jul;5(7):759-771. doi: 10.1038/s41551-021-00723-y. Epub 2021 May 27.

Authors

Enming Song^#^{1

2}, Zhaoqian Xie^#^{3

4}, Wubin Bai^#^{5

6}, Haiwen Luan^#⁵, Bowen Ji⁷, Xin Ning⁸, Yu Xia⁹, Janice Mihyun Baek⁹, Yujin Lee⁹, Raudel Avila¹⁰, Huang-Yu Chen⁵, Jae-Hwan Kim⁹, Surabhi Madhvapathy⁵, Kuanming Yao², Dengfeng Li², Jingkun Zhou², Mengdi Han⁵, Sang Min Won¹¹, Xinyuan Zhang¹², Daniel J Myers^{5

13}, Yongfeng Mei¹², Xu Guo^{3

4}, Shuai Xu^{5

13}, Jan-Kai Chang¹⁴, Xinge Yu¹⁵, Yonggang Huang^{16

17

18

19}, John A Rogers^{20

21

22

23

24}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Optoelectronics, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
² Department of Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Structural Analysis for Industrial Equipment, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China.
⁴ Ningbo Institute of Dalian University of Technology, Ningbo, China.
⁵ Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
⁶ Department of Applied Physical Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
⁷ Unmanned System Research Institute, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, China.
⁸ Department of Aerospace Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
⁹ Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
¹¹ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of Korea.
¹² Department of Materials Science, State Key Laboratory of ASIC and Systems, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
¹³ Department of Dermatology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
¹⁴ Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA. jan-kai.chang@northwestern.edu.
¹⁵ Department of Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. xingeyu@cityu.edu.hk.
¹⁶ Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA. y-huang@northwestern.edu.
¹⁷ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA. y-huang@northwestern.edu.
¹⁸ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA. y-huang@northwestern.edu.
¹⁹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA. y-huang@northwestern.edu.
²⁰ Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA. jrogers@northwestern.edu.
²¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA. jrogers@northwestern.edu.
²² Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA. jrogers@northwestern.edu.
²³ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA. jrogers@northwestern.edu.
²⁴ Department of Neurological Surgery, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA. jrogers@northwestern.edu.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 34045731
DOI: 10.1038/s41551-021-00723-y

Abstract

Evaluating the biomechanics of soft tissues at depths well below their surface, and at high precision and in real time, would open up diagnostic opportunities. Here, we report the development and application of miniaturized electromagnetic devices, each integrating a vibratory actuator and a soft strain-sensing sheet, for dynamically measuring the Young's modulus of skin and of other soft tissues at depths of approximately 1-8 mm, depending on the particular design of the sensor. We experimentally and computationally established the operational principles of the devices and evaluated their performance with a range of synthetic and biological materials and with human skin in healthy volunteers. Arrays of devices can be used to spatially map elastic moduli and to profile the modulus depth-wise. As an example of practical medical utility, we show that the devices can be used to accurately locate lesions associated with psoriasis. Compact electronic devices for the rapid and precise mechanical characterization of living tissues could be used to monitor and diagnose a range of health disorders.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Adult
Aged
Animals
Biomechanical Phenomena
Elastic Modulus
Electrochemical Techniques / instrumentation
Electrochemical Techniques / methods*
Humans
Hydrogels / chemistry
Middle Aged
Miniaturization
Skin / chemistry*
Skin / metabolism
Swine
Vibration
Young Adult

Substances

Hydrogels