The research team from Stanford University have invented a novel wearable that could measure the level of a patient’s cortisol from their sweat. Cortisol is a hormone linked to stress, which takes several days to test. This scientific discovery was recently published in Science Advances. 

Onur Parlak, a post-doctoral scholar in the Salleo lab and the lead author, said "We are particularly interested in sweat sensing, because it offers noninvasive and continuous monitoring of various biomarkers for a range of physiological conditions; This offers a novel approach for the early detection of various diseases and evaluation of sports performance.”

This new wearable has a flexible and stretchy sensor known as MS-OECT that could sense cortisol from human sweat. The sensor specifically binds to cortisol and permits other properties, such as proteins to pass through its membrane. 

The authors of this study mentioned, “We introduce the integration of an electrochemical transistor and a tailor-made synthetic and biomimetic polymeric membrane, which acts as a molecular memory layer facilitating the stable and selective molecular recognition of the human stress hormone cortisol; The sensor and a laser-patterned microcapillary channel array are integrated in a wearable sweat diagnostics platform, providing accurate sweat acquisition and precise sample delivery to the sensor interface.”

The research team further added, “In summary, we have demonstrated the integration of an artificial receptor as a biomimetic polymeric membrane for stable and selective molecular recognition using OECTs to produce a wearable sweat diagnostics platform for real-time analysis of the human stress hormone cortisol.”