Rochester students’ award-winning device instantly detects sepsis via sweat

Published
December 1, 2021
The Rochester iGEM team’s Bio-Spire device collects a tiny amount of sweat from a patient’s skin, then wicks the sweat past an integrated set of electrodes covered in biomarker detectors. (Photo courtesy of Rochester’s 2021 iGEM team)
The Rochester iGEM team’s Bio-Spire device collects a tiny amount of sweat from a patient’s skin, then wicks the sweat past an integrated set of electrodes covered in biomarker detectors. (Photo courtesy of Rochester’s 2021 iGEM team)

Rochester undergraduates have developed a fast, noninvasive, affordable, and eco-friendly way to diagnose sepsis, a life-threatening medical complication.

Every  year, approximately 1.7 million American adults develop sepsis, a life-threatening complication that arises when the body has an overwhelming immune response to an infection. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sepsis causes more than 20 percent of all deaths worldwide and one in every three deaths in US hospitals.