Latest news with #SameerSonkusale
Forbes
28-05-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Smart Dental Floss Tracks Levels Of Stress Hormone Cortisol In Saliva
Scientists have created a dental floss that doesn't just clean between your teeth. It gauges your stress levels. It does that by measuring amounts of cortisol in saliva. Produced by the adrenal glands and often referred to as 'the stress hormone,' cortisol plays a critical role in regulating the body's response to stress, in addition to regulating blood pressure, helping control the sleep-wake cycle and influencing other physical functions. Chronic stress can impact us in all sorts of adverse ways — from increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease to decreasing immune function — so controlling and reducing it is essential. The Tufts University team behind the multitasking floss aimed to create a low-cost, noninvasive and simple at-home tool for getting a read on stress levels in real time. 'We didn't want measurement to create an additional source of stress,' Tufts engineering professor Sameer Sonkusale said in a statement, 'so we thought, can we make a sensing device that becomes part of your day-to-day routine?' Sonkusale and his colleagues detail their saliva-sensing dental floss in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, and are creating a startup to try and bring the product to market. The dental floss comes in the form of a standard floss pick, with the string stretched across two prongs that extend from a plastic handle. It's not just any string, though. It's a special 3D-printed thread containing a narrow channel that picks up the saliva via capillary microfluidics, or blood vessel activity that moves the fluid along. The spit then gets drawn into the flat pick handle and into an attached tab, where it spreads across cortisol-detecting electrodes and produces a score within 11 to 12 minutes. 'Combined with a wireless readout, this saliva floss offers a convenient way to monitor daily stress levels," the study says. The team tested the device on student volunteers at the Boston university, resulting, according to the study, in highly accurate results reinforced by those of ELISA kits that test a range of antigen targets, hormones and molecules. Still, Sonkusale said the smart floss is best used for monitoring rather than diagnostics, where blood work remains the gold standard. 'But once you are diagnosed and put on medication, if you need to track, say, a cardiovascular condition over time to see if your heart health is improving, then monitoring with the sensor can be easy and allows for timely interventions when needed,' he said. The novel device, the scientists say, could be extended beyond cortisol to detect other salivary biomarkers, such as estrogen for fertility tracking, glucose for diabetes monitoring and even markers for cancer — turning a simple daily dental act into a broader health check-in.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Researchers think this dental floss could track cancer and tell if you're stressed. Here's how
Could flossing your teeth help you track your physical and mental health? Researchers at Boston's Tufts University say they've designed a floss pick system that could one day be used to track a wide range of conditions, including stress – and cancer. The device works by measuring cortisol, which is known as our stress hormone. 'We didn't want measurement to create an additional source of stress, so we thought, can we make a sensing device that becomes part of your day-to-day routine? Cortisol is a stress marker found in saliva, so flossing seemed like a natural fit to take a daily sample,' Sameer Sonkusale, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, explained in a statement. Sonkusale and his research team published their work on Friday in the journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. The specially designed floss looks just like a common floss pick that consumers can pick up at a pharmacy store. So, how does it work? The string picks up saliva through a narrow channel in the floss. It's drawn into the pick handle and an attached tab, where it spreads across electrical conductors that detect the cortisol. The cortisol is recognized using a technology called electropolymerized molecularly imprinted polymers, or eMIPs, for short. The university noted that it works kind of similarly to a plaster cast, leaving the 'memory' of the cortisol molecule in a polymer around it. Plastic and rubber are types of polymers. This cast could be used to detect cortisol and other molecules in saliva, the researchers said. It could even be used to monitor glucose for diabetes or markers for cancer. It could possibly detect multiple issues at once. 'Biosensors have typically been developed using antibodies or other receptors that pick up the molecule of interest. Once a marker is found, a lot of work has to go into bioengineering the receiving molecule attached to the sensor,' said Sonkusale. He noted that eMIP 'does not rely on a lot of investment in making antibodies or receptors. If you discover a new marker for stress or any other disease or condition, you can just create a polymer cast in a very short period of time.' Furthermore, the researchers say the sensors are accurate — and comparable to the best-performing sensors on the market. They're currently creating a startup to try and bring the product to market. However, Sonkusale noted that saliva markers can still have variations among individuals. 'For diagnostics, blood is still the gold standard,' he said. 'But once you are diagnosed and put on medication, if you need to track, say, a cardiovascular condition over time to see if your heart health is improving, then monitoring with the sensor can be easy and allows for timely interventions when needed.'
The Independent
23-05-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Researchers think this dental floss could track cancer and tell if you're stressed. Here's how
Could flossing your teeth help you track your physical and mental health? Researchers at Boston's Tufts University say they've designed a floss pick system that could one day be used to track a wide range of conditions, including stress – and cancer. The device works by measuring cortisol, which is known as our stress hormone. 'We didn't want measurement to create an additional source of stress, so we thought, can we make a sensing device that becomes part of your day-to-day routine? Cortisol is a stress marker found in saliva, so flossing seemed like a natural fit to take a daily sample,' Sameer Sonkusale, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, explained in a statement. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. The specially designed floss looks just like a common floss pick that consumers can pick up at a pharmacy store. So, how does it work? The string picks up saliva through a narrow channel in the floss. It's drawn into the pick handle and an attached tab, where it spreads across electrical conductors that detect the cortisol. The cortisol is recognized using a technology called electropolymerized molecularly imprinted polymers, or eMIPs, for short. The university noted that it works kind of similarly to a plaster cast, leaving the 'memory' of the cortisol molecule in a polymer around it. Plastic and rubber are types of polymers. This cast could be used to detect cortisol and other molecules in saliva, the researchers said. It could even be used to monitor glucose for diabetes or markers for cancer. It could possibly detect multiple issues at once. 'Biosensors have typically been developed using antibodies or other receptors that pick up the molecule of interest. Once a marker is found, a lot of work has to go into bioengineering the receiving molecule attached to the sensor,' said Sonkusale. He noted that eMIP 'does not rely on a lot of investment in making antibodies or receptors. If you discover a new marker for stress or any other disease or condition, you can just create a polymer cast in a very short period of time.' Furthermore, the researchers say the sensors are accurate — and comparable to the best-performing sensors on the market. They're currently creating a startup to try and bring the product to market. However, Sonkusale noted that saliva markers can still have variations among individuals. 'For diagnostics, blood is still the gold standard,' he said. 'But once you are diagnosed and put on medication, if you need to track, say, a cardiovascular condition over time to see if your heart health is improving, then monitoring with the sensor can be easy and allows for timely interventions when needed.'
