Our first Spring 2025 Seminar will be led by
Nanshu Lu
Carol Cockrell Curran Chair in Engineering
The University of Texas at Austin
Date: Thursday, January 23, 2025
Location: Stevenson Center 5326
Time: 11:30 am for lunch; 11:45 am start
Title:
Wireless E-Tattoos for Mobile and Comprehensive Cardiovascular Monitoring
Abstract:
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death globally, claiming an estimated 17.9 million lives annually and accounting for 32% of all global deaths. The emergence of mobile and continuous sensing technologies, such as wearable devices, offers a groundbreaking shift in cardiac care by enabling real-time monitoring, early detection, and more effective management of CVD, potentially revolutionizing patient outcomes and healthcare efficiency. E-tattoos are hair-thin, skin-soft, and skin-conformable wearable patches that can be noninvasively attached to any part of the skin for distributed, multimodal biometric sensing. This talk will first introduce a lightweight, low-power, trimodal chest-laminated wireless e-tattoo that can simultaneously and synchronously monitor electrocardiogram (ECG), seismocardiogram (SCG), and plethysmography (PPG). Out of the three measurables, medical grade, beat-by-beat stroke volume (or cardiac output) and blood pressure can be continuously estimated. The other example is a 48-channel PPG e-tattoo applied over major artery-vein pairs such as the wrist or the neck, aiming for the noninvasive and simultaneous detection of arterial and venous oxygenation. Mobile measurements of cardiac output and arteriovenous oxygen difference can enable the continous estimation of one’s oxygen consumption, which is a key predictor of athletic performance, overall health, and longevity. The ultimate goal of this line of research is to paint a full picture of one’s cardiovascular health in everyday life.
Bio:
Dr. Nanshu Lu is the Carol Cockrell Curran Chair in Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin). She received her B.Eng. with honors from Tsinghua University, Beijing, her Ph.D. from Harvard University, and then Beckman Postdoctoral Fellowship at UIUC. Her research concerns the mechanics, materials, circuits, manufacture, and human- or robot-integration of soft electronics. She is a Clarivate (Web of Science) highly cited researcher, a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). She is on the Board of Directors of the Society of Engineering Science (SES). She has been named 35 innovators under 35 by MIT Technology Review (TR 35) and iCANX/ACS Nano Inaugural Rising Star. She has received the US NSF CAREER Award, ONR and AFOSR Young Investigator Awards, and the ASME Thomas J.R. Hughes Young Investigator Award. She has been named one of the five great innovators on campus and five world-changing women at UT-Austin.