The supervisory team at RAM are developing a breakthrough concept: a wound bandage dressing with fluidic transport capabilities. Key concept functions include monitoring of key clinical parameters related to healing and infection, and medicine delivery through lateral flow fluids. In other synergistic research projects, a first generation of the bandage is being developed.
In this master thesis project, we want to explore the development of a medical device around the concept. With strong clinical traction, the key hypothesis is that transporting liquids towards and away from the wound via flexible and biocompatible microfluidic structures will enable burn monitoring and treatment without disruptive bandage changes. Nonetheless, clinical practice is based on bandage changes, hence outlining the need for embedding advanced sensors to leave the bandage on the wound for prolonged periods of time. Hence, in this project, we want to study sensing strategies to monitor wound healing.
In a first part of the project, literature will be reviewed to research key monitoring parameters and their state of the art. We will then validate our findings with our clinical partners, establishing a list of parameters and their target range. This will be followed by research on chemical and physical parameters, defining a sensing strategy for a multi-parameter system.
Finally, a design integration concept for the sensing array will be explored, paving the way for medical device development.