Background

Most wounds on the human body develop a substance known as “wound fluid”. This fluid contains various useful biomarkers, which can provide a comprehensive understanding of the wound status. For instance, such biomarkers provide information on the inflammatory, ischemic, catabolic, and infection status of wounds.

Current methods of analyzing wound fluid are limited to reading a single biomarker at a time via the use of smart bandages and smart wraps. These methods involve complex electronics and high costs. Additionally, such methods are required to be fixed to the wound site for a substantial amount of time to develop a valid reading. This can aggravate the wound and result in more harm than good.

Thus, there is a substantial need for a wound diagnostic tool that can be simply swiped along the wound to diagnose the status, provide multiple data on multiple biomarkers in that diagnosis, and has reduced cost/complication.

Technology Overview

NC State researchers have developed a novel, low cost swab device that monitors various biomarkers simultaneously in the wound fluid to acquire a comprehensive understanding of the wound status with a single swab. The swab includes sensors composed of quantum dot-based florescence that light up at different intensities and wavelengths depending on which kind of biomarkers are detected in the wound fluid. These quantum dots are then analyzed via colorimetry to provide diagnostic information about the wound’s status.

From the user’s point of view, all that has to be done is swab the wound with the sensor laden swab, wait a few minutes, and then take a photo of the sensor using a smartphone camera. Image analysis software will then extract color intensity of the sensors and provide user-readable diagnostic information about the wound status. Unlike the prior art, this sensor system has no need for fixing a bandage to the wound site, multiple different smart bandages, or complex electronics and high costs.

This innovation is currently being tested and validated on animal models. NCSU is searching for an existing industry partner or startup to license this technology and bring it to market.

Benefits

Low cost wound diagnosis.
All-in-one swab biomarker detection.
Early stage infection detection.
Early stage inflammation detection.
Healing status updates.
Quick, fast acting wound diagnosis.
Simple to use, user-friendly wound diagnosis.
Accurate wound diagnosis.

Applications

Diagnosing and monitoring cuts, scrapes, and other surface wounds on people.
Diagnosing and monitoring cuts, scrapes, and other surface wounds on pets.
Diagnosing and monitoring cuts, scrapes, and other surface wounds on livestock.
Military triage diagnostic tool.
Disaster response diagnostic tool.
In hospital infection monitoring tool.
Monitoring and diagnosing antibiotic resistant microbes.

SmartSwab – A Wound Diagnosing and Monitoring Swab