ABOVE: Prototype of a SARS-CoV-2–detecting mask
WYSS INSTITUTE AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY
A face mask that both protects against respiratory pathogens and tests for SARS-CoV-2 as accurately as a lab test? It sounds like science fiction.
But in a study published June 28 in Nature Biotechnology, a group led by researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute and MIT incorporates biosensors into fabric, creating a SARS-CoV-2–sensing face mask and a jacket that can detect antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
As far as the authors know, it’s the first demonstration of textile fibers using cell-free systems “that have been engineered to harness the core sensing mechanisms of cellular biological systems,” says coauthor Luis Soenksen of MIT.
It’s not the first time researchers have incorporated biological components into wearable sensors. In a quest to make devices such as stick-on tattoos that sense small molecules on the skin or running gear that opens ventilating flaps when exposed to sweat, scientists ...
