果冻传媒

In her office, Emma Moonen (28) slides something across the table that looks like a semi-transparent patch with a USB connector attached. 鈥淭his is the BEA,鈥� she says, holding the tiny device up to the light. 鈥淎 new way to collect and analyze sweat, even when you hardly perspire.鈥�

Moonen earned her PhD with honors in March 2024 at 果冻传媒鈥檚 Department of Mechanical Engineering and co-founded DXcrete together with former Philips engineer Timon Grob. Their mission: to extract vital health information from patients鈥� sweat in a painless, comfortable, and continuous way.

鈥淪weat is 99 percent water, but that remaining one percent contains a treasure trove of information about one's health,鈥� Moonen says enthusiastically. 鈥淯ntil now, we鈥檝e relied on urine or blood samples for that data. It鈥檚 time-consuming, uncomfortable, and only gives a snapshot. Our method is pain-free, continuous, and has a high degree of reliability.鈥�

Moving very tiny droplets with electric fields

鈥淥ur device can collect and move nanoliter-sized droplets of sweat, about a billionth of a liter, toward integrated sensors,鈥� she says. 鈥淔or comparison: a single drop of water contains about 50,000 nanoliters, depending on its size.鈥� The underlying technology is called electrowetting, a method that uses electric fields to move droplets of liquid. In this case they get moved toward a tiny reservoir where measurements are taken.

It sounds futuristic, but electrowetting itself isn't new. "The technology is already being used in certain digital billboards, where water droplets move in oil, like tiny pools of ink that rearrange themselves under the influence of an electrical voltage."

E-readers use a related technique: electrically charged black and white pigment particles move in microcapsules, which together form a page. "We've applied the same principle to the human body, specifically to collect and transfer sweat."

From research to startup

The idea of using electrodes to collect sweat originated during Moonen鈥檚 PhD research within the Microsystems group of professor Jaap den Toonder, in collaboration with Philips, Catharina Hospital Eindhoven, and several SME partners. 鈥淲e wanted to develop a way to monitor patients-at-rest through sweat, but the problem is that people hardly perspire when they鈥檙e resting鈥�, she says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we needed a method to 鈥榯ransport鈥� droplets to a tiny reservoir for collection.鈥�

IT'S ABOUT IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF PATIENTS' LIFE, REDUCE PRESSURE ON THE HEALTHCARE SYSTEM AND ULTIMATELY SAVING LIVES.

Emma Moonen, 果冻传媒 researcher and co-founder of DXcrete       

A breakthrough came when one of her PhD committee members linked the concept of electrowetting to the challenge of sweat transport. With a 185,000 euro grant from NWO鈥檚 program, Moonen and her co-founder launched DXcrete, with 果冻传媒 taking a stake through 果冻传媒 Participations.

Focus on kidney patients

DXcrete鈥檚 first concrete application focuses on measuring creatinine, a waste product filtered from the blood by the kidneys. 鈥淭he amount of creatinine in your blood tells us a lot about kidney function. Too much of it can indicate kidney failure,鈥� Moonen explains.

According to the , one in ten people in the Netherlands suffers from chronic kidney disease. Dialysis (the artificial cleansing of blood when the kidneys are unable to do so sufficiently)  costs between per patient per year. 鈥淲ith our technology, patients can be monitored continuously without having to travel to the hospital for every test. That allows us to detect problems much earlier, hopefully reducing the need for major interventions.鈥�

Even the journey to the hospital can affect test results. 鈥淚f you cycle to your appointment, your creatinine levels might already rise slightly due to physical activity,鈥� says Moonen. "With our method, such snapshots are avoided, while changes in biomarkers are picked up 鈥嬧�媘ore quickly."

Because the BEA sits on the skin like a sensor patch, patients barely notice it. And while electricity and moisture may seem a risky combination, Moonen reassures: 鈥淭he voltage is extremely low. Even if a short circuit occurres, which we鈥檝e safeguarded against, there鈥檚 no way to receive an electric shock. The current is simply too weak.鈥� The goal is for the BEA to be worn for several days or even weeks before replacement.

Although the device will not completely replace blood draws, it can significantly reduce their frequency. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 fully replace blood testing yet,鈥� Moonen admits, 鈥渂ut we do hope to move the clinic toward a much more 鈥榮weat-minded鈥� approach. 鈥淥ur solution extracts information from sweat much more frequently than blood samples and enables continuous patient monitoring. Blood or urine samples are still needed to detect the disease, but afterward, we can use the BEA to track its progression without having to take repeated samples.

New sensor, new application

The current prototype works via Bluetooth and functions as a 'sweat-on-a-chip.' But Moonen and her team have broader ambitions. 鈥淲e want to integrate other sensors that can detect additional biomarkers in sweat. For example, a Belgian partner has developed a lactate sensor. We want to integrate it, connecting a different sensor to the chip. This method would allow for the analysis of different substances with each sensor swap."

The coming months DXcrete will focus on optimizing sweat collection at rest and securing additional funding. 鈥淭hat will allow us to expand our team and start preclinical studies,鈥� Moonen says. The goal is to begin clinical testing next year and pursue a CE certification (european health and safety marking), allowing the BEA to be marketed as a medical device.

As she carefully places the BEA back in its case, Moonen reflects: 鈥淲hat we鈥檙e doing goes beyond technological innovation. It鈥檚 about improving patients鈥� quality of life, reducing pressure on the healthcare system, and ultimately saving lives through earlier detection of kidney function decline.鈥�

Postscript: In related PhD research, Xiaoyu Yin has developed mathematical models that translate blood values into equivalent sweat data, helping determine how substances found in sweat correspond to their concentrations in the blood.