WTTW spotlights devices developed by the Rogers Group
"If you come up with some idea that you think is going to make some kind of difference for the clinicians you can basically go from concept to having the device in your hand by the end of the day."
Tony Banks, CBIE engineering advisor and collaborator
WTTW, Chicago’s PBS network, published a story Sept. 9 highlighting some of the flexible electronic devices created by John Rogers’ research group.
Rogers, who directs the Center for Bio-Integrated Electronics (CBIE) at the Simpson Querrey Institute, has pioneered several wearable devices with applications for health monitoring. These include patches affixed to the skin to analyze sweat or a premature baby’s vital signs, as well as a button-sized monitor to measure UV exposure.
Rogers told WTTW the newborn monitoring device has been funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Save the Children Foundation to be deployed in areas of the developing world where health monitoring technology is lacking. He said the sensors are reusable and cost about $15 each.
“We’re on schedule to do 20,000 patients over a 12-month period that will start in September,” Rogers said. “And so it will be India, Pakistan, Zambia and Kenya, starting with Zambia.”
Tony Banks, Rogers’ collaborator at CBIE, said the group’s laboratory spaces at Northwestern University allow for the rapid development of new prototypes.
“Literally, we have all the different resources within our lab … if you come up with some idea that you think is going to make some kind of difference for the clinicians you can basically go from concept to having the device in your hand by the end of the day,” Banks said.