UC Science Today

Wearable health monitors are not new to consumers, but engineers at the University of California, Berkeley have taken the trend a step further by developing a ‘smart’ wrist- or headband that can continually monitor the chemicals in your sweat. And since human sweat is rich in physiological chemicals, this device could be used to assess and monitor a user’s state of health. Engineer Ali Javey describes how it works.

"There is the flexible, printed electronic component. This is where we have the sensors to detect the different chemicals in sweat. And then there is a second component, and that’s where we can process the information, we can analyze the data and we can also transmit the signal to a wireless cell phone."

Their prototype would offer a non-invasive, real-time way to alert users to health problems such as fatigue, dehydration and dangerously high body temperatures.

"And it’s all done using a platform that is just on the back of the watch."

People may be in a sweat to use this now, but more testing still needs to be done.

When it comes to the mechanisms behind our sense of smell, there’s so much we still don’t understand. Psychologist Lucia Jacobs of the University of California, Berkeley is a pioneer in odor mapping and will be using National Science Foundation funding to help crack the olfactory code in humans and animals. Part of her lab will be looking into the brain’s role in smell navigation in human mental health.

"One of the first symptoms of an illness, and that includes major depression, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, schizophrenia and sociopathy. All of these medical illnesses have in common, and dementias, that you lose your sense of smell; you have an impaired sense of smell. And really, no one understands why that is."

Jacobs says her new lab will study human olfaction, specifically what’s going on with the olfactory navigation system in people with dementia.

"And see if we can add to a new diagnostic tool or help people with their day-to-day lives. How does the impaired olfaction impact that? Maybe if we understand that we can help that."

When it comes to the mechanisms behind our sense of smell, there’s so much we still don’t understand. Psychologist Lucia Jacobs of the University of California, Berkeley is a pioneer in odor mapping and will be using National Science Foundation funding to help crack the olfactory code in humans and animals. Part of her lab will be looking into the brain’s role in smell navigation in human mental health.

"One of the first symptoms of an illness, and that includes major depression, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, schizophrenia and sociopathy. All of these medical illnesses have in common, and dementias, that you lose your sense of smell; you have an impaired sense of smell. And really, no one understands why that is."

Jacobs says her new lab will study human olfaction, specifically what’s going on with the olfactory navigation system in people with dementia.

"And see if we can add to a new diagnostic tool or help people with their day-to-day lives. How does the impaired olfaction impact that? Maybe if we understand that we can help that."

When it comes to the mechanisms behind our sense of smell, there’s so much we still don’t understand. Psychologist Lucia Jacobs of the University of California, Berkeley is a pioneer in odor mapping and will be using National Science Foundation funding to help crack the olfactory code in humans and animals. Part of her lab will be looking into the brain’s role in smell navigation in human mental health.

"One of the first symptoms of an illness, and that includes major depression, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, schizophrenia and sociopathy. All of these medical illnesses have in common, and dementias, that you lose your sense of smell; you have an impaired sense of smell. And really, no one understands why that is."

Jacobs says her new lab will study human olfaction, specifically what’s going on with the olfactory navigation system in people with dementia.

"And see if we can add to a new diagnostic tool or help people with their day-to-day lives. How does the impaired olfaction impact that? Maybe if we understand that we can help that."

The microbiome may be the key to dealing with allergic diseases such as asthma and eczema. Dr. Susan Lynch of the University of California, San Francisco, was part of a multi-institutional study that found that infants who had a diverse mix of bacteria in the gut during the first six months of life, were at less risk of developing allergies and asthma later in life. At a recent conference, Lynch said their findings could lead to new microbiome-related treatments in humans.

"And it may be a combination of microbial supplementation with appropriate dietary interventions, that really re-engineers the microbial communities in the gastrointestinal tract to produce a broad spectrum of anti-inflammatory metabolic products that influence the tone of host-immune response."

Lynch added that the next step for researchers is to figure out how to recognize microbiome abnormalities, who to test for them, and then how to treat them.

The microbiome may be the key to dealing with allergic diseases such as asthma and eczema. Dr. Susan Lynch of the University of California, San Francisco, was part of a multi-institutional study that found that infants who had a diverse mix of bacteria in the gut during the first six months of life, were at less risk of developing allergies and asthma later in life. At a recent conference, Lynch said their findings could lead to new microbiome-related treatments in humans.

"And it may be a combination of microbial supplementation with appropriate dietary interventions, that really re-engineers the microbial communities in the gastrointestinal tract to produce a broad spectrum of anti-inflammatory metabolic products that influence the tone of host-immune response."

Lynch added that the next step for researchers is to figure out how to recognize microbiome abnormalities, who to test for them, and then how to treat them.

The microbiome may be the key to dealing with allergic diseases such as asthma and eczema. Dr. Susan Lynch of the University of California, San Francisco, was part of a multi-institutional study that found that infants who had a diverse mix of bacteria in the gut during the first six months of life, were at less risk of developing allergies and asthma later in life. At a recent conference, Lynch said their findings could lead to new microbiome-related treatments in humans.

"And it may be a combination of microbial supplementation with appropriate dietary interventions, that really re-engineers the microbial communities in the gastrointestinal tract to produce a broad spectrum of anti-inflammatory metabolic products that influence the tone of host-immune response."

Lynch added that the next step for researchers is to figure out how to recognize microbiome abnormalities, who to test for them, and then how to treat them.

Insects destroy billions of dollars of agriculture each year, which can result in heavy insecticide use on crops. But University of California, Riverside entomologist Anandasankar Ray hopes that practice might soon be weeded out.

"And what we are trying to develop now, is a sort of strategy to see whether we can impact agriculture so that they can reduce their dependency on toxic chemicals."

Ray’s lab is seeking healthy, natural alternatives to insecticides and bug repellants like DEET.

"That would be kind of a dream come true, if we could create a product that is affordable, washable, safe, that smells nice and yet protects the fruit, and we are not worried about consuming."

The lab has identified various substitutes that repel insects based on odors - basically creating a disgust factor for pests.

"We will continually improve upon these active ingredients that we found. It’s not a stagnant process."

Insects destroy billions of dollars of agriculture each year, which can result in heavy insecticide use on crops. But University of California, Riverside entomologist Anandasankar Ray hopes that practice might soon be weeded out.

"And what we are trying to develop now, is a sort of strategy to see whether we can impact agriculture so that they can reduce their dependency on toxic chemicals."

Ray’s lab is seeking healthy, natural alternatives to insecticides and bug repellants like DEET.

"That would be kind of a dream come true, if we could create a product that is affordable, washable, safe, that smells nice and yet protects the fruit, and we are not worried about consuming."

The lab has identified various substitutes that repel insects based on odors - basically creating a disgust factor for pests.

"We will continually improve upon these active ingredients that we found. It’s not a stagnant process."

Insects destroy billions of dollars of agriculture each year, which can result in heavy insecticide use on crops. But University of California, Riverside entomologist Anandasankar Ray hopes that practice might soon be weeded out.

"And what we are trying to develop now, is a sort of strategy to see whether we can impact agriculture so that they can reduce their dependency on toxic chemicals."

Ray’s lab is seeking healthy, natural alternatives to insecticides and bug repellants like DEET.

"That would be kind of a dream come true, if we could create a product that is affordable, washable, safe, that smells nice and yet protects the fruit, and we are not worried about consuming."

The lab has identified various substitutes that repel insects based on odors - basically creating a disgust factor for pests.

"We will continually improve upon these active ingredients that we found. It’s not a stagnant process."