Nanoengineers win $1 million grant to develop wearables that decontaminate chem-bio agents from skin

Nanoengineering professor Joseph Wang, lead PI

Nanoengineering professor Liangfang Zhang, co-PI

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency has awarded a $1 million grant to researchers at the Jacobs School to develop new skin-wearable systems that can rapidly and efficiently detect and remove chemical and biological agents.

The proposed wearable epidermal sensors will also be equipped with therapeutic agents that are released upon detection of the chemical and biological threats.

The project, led by nanoengineering professors Joseph Wang (director of the UC San Diego Center for Wearable Sensors) and Liangfang Zhang (faculty affiliate of the UC San Diego Institute of Engineering in Medicine), is titled "Responsive Skin-Worn Detection-Treatment System." The new research aims to provide better understanding of how chem-bio agents interact with skin tissues and builds upon recent advances from Wang and Zhang's laboratories, including epidermal electrochemical biosensors (Wang Lab) and responsive drug delivery systems (Zhang Lab).