Designing polymers and adhesives for wearable devices and point-of-care diagnostic applications

As the biomedical industry continues to expand into patient monitoring and compliance, the reliance on adhesive performance in various applications has reached a critical need. The wearable device industry which includes continous glucose monitoring, cardiac monitoring, and others requires adhesives to attach a device to the user's skin for an extended period of time with optimally no skin irritation or sensitization. Devices are now being worn longer moving from 7 day wear to 14 day wear and now in some cases up to 30 days of wear on the human body. Utilizing novel polymer synthesis and adhesive formulation we have demonstrated that users are now able to wear devices at these extended wear times with limited skin irritation. Additionally, the point of care diagnostics industry also requires polymer and adhesive development to work in their assays. These assays can include blood glusose testing, DNA sequencing, or blood coagulation. Through adhesive design, these assays can move fluids through capillary channels with a defined volume while not interacting with the adhesives that compose the microfluidic cartridge or test strip. We have demonstrated through novel polymer synthesis and complex adhesive formulation that needs in the biotechnology industry are being addressed.