SBIR/STTR Award attributes
Airmen face exposure to a variety of potentially hazardous environments including exposure to hazardous chemicals such as jet fuel, energetic materials, paints, and other toxicants. Further, the conditions that will be experienced by members of the U.S. Space Force such as radiation, microgravity, etc. can have significant physiological impact on warfighter performance. Of the many dangers Airmen face, the hypoxia-like unexplained physiological events (UPEs) are some of the most dangerous and elusive. Current wearable sensors cannot decouple complex, interdependent in vivo response. The goal of this project is to develop (design, fabricate, test, and demonstrate) a portable platform containing bioprinted organoids that recapitulates human-level architectures, with integrated sensors that can monitor both environmental conditions and physiological markers to provide real time feedback to pilots during flight, as well as data logging for further analysis on the ground. In Phase I, proof of concept of key technology elements including bioprinted organoids and sensors was demonstrated. The proposed Phase II research builds on the successful Phase I accomplishments and will further optimize the components of the platform and will focus on the development and characterization of a stand-alone portable platform.
