Wearable aptamer-field-effect transistor sensing system for noninvasive cortisol monitoring

Bo Wang; Chuanzhen Zhao; Zhaoqing Wang; Kyung-Ae Yang; Xuanbing Cheng; Wenfei Liu; Wenzhuo Yu; Shuyu Lin; Yichao Zhao; Kevin M Cheung; Haisong Lin; Hannaneh Hojaiji; Paul S Weiss; Milan N Stojanović; A Janet Tomiyama; Anne M Andrews; Sam Emaminejad

doi:10.1126/sciadv.abk0967

Wearable aptamer-field-effect transistor sensing system for noninvasive cortisol monitoring

Sci Adv. 2022 Jan 7;8(1):eabk0967. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abk0967. Epub 2022 Jan 5.

Authors

Bo Wang¹, Chuanzhen Zhao^{2

3}, Zhaoqing Wang⁴, Kyung-Ae Yang⁵, Xuanbing Cheng^{4

6}, Wenfei Liu^{2

3}, Wenzhuo Yu⁴, Shuyu Lin⁴, Yichao Zhao^{4

6}, Kevin M Cheung^{2

3}, Haisong Lin⁴, Hannaneh Hojaiji⁴, Paul S Weiss^{2

3

6

7}, Milan N Stojanović^{5

8}, A Janet Tomiyama⁹, Anne M Andrews^{2

3

10

11

12}, Sam Emaminejad^{4

7}

Affiliations

¹ Interconnected and Integrated Bioelectronics Lab (I2BL), Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
² Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
³ California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
⁴ Interconnected and Integrated Bioelectronics Lab (IBL), Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
⁵ Division of Experimental Therapeutics, Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA.
⁶ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
⁷ Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
⁸ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA.
⁹ Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
¹¹ Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
¹² Hatos Center for Neuropharmacology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.

Abstract

Wearable technologies for personalized monitoring require sensors that track biomarkers often present at low levels. Cortisol—a key stress biomarker—is present in sweat at low nanomolar concentrations. Previous wearable sensing systems are limited to analytes in the micromolar-millimolar ranges. To overcome this and other limitations, we developed a flexible field-effect transistor (FET) biosensor array that exploits a previously unreported cortisol aptamer coupled to nanometer-thin-film In₂O₃ FETs. Cortisol levels were determined via molecular recognition by aptamers where binding was transduced to electrical signals on FETs. The physiological relevance of cortisol as a stress biomarker was demonstrated by tracking salivary cortisol levels in participants in a Trier Social Stress Test and establishing correlations between cortisol in diurnal saliva and sweat samples. These correlations motivated the development and on-body validation of an aptamer-FET array–based smartwatch equipped with a custom, multichannel, self-referencing, and autonomous source measurement unit enabling seamless, real-time cortisol sweat sensing.

Abstract

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