Developing an alternative to blood tests for health investigation through a microneedle biosensor device

This blog is part of a series showcasing the People’s Research Cafe which took place on the 18th and 19th June 2022 in South Kensington, London as part of the Great Exhibition Road Festival.

What is a People’s Research Café?

The People’s Research Cafe is a café with a twist. Visitors are welcomed to sit down at a table co-hosted by an Imperial College researcher and a public contributor whose role is to help the conversation flow freely. Over a free hot drink, visitors find out about the researcher’s project and will be asked for their opinions on it. The researchers are then expected to use this feedback from visitors to improve their projects. The People’s Research Café has been run previously at two Imperial Festivals (2018 and 2019) and also in four community venues. It was previously called the “PPI Café” and you can read about the one at the Imperial Festival 2018 here.

When did this People’s Research Café take place?

People’s Research Café was hosted at the Great Exhibition Road Festival held on 18 and 19 June 2022 and was a collaboration between the following teams/centres: Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, Imperial Clinical Trials Unit, Imperial Clinical Research Facility, London In-Vitro Diagnostics Cooperative, NWL Applied Research Collaborative, MRC Centre for Environmental and Health, HPRU in Healthcare Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance. Researchers from each centre were given the opportunity to apply to host a table at the Café for 2 hours where they would explain their research in plain language and ask visitors 3 questions with the help of a public contributor. It was a requirement that the research project was at a stage where visitor feedback could still influence the project. Researchers and public contributors were offered training about how the Café would work and how to maximise conversations with visitors. Ahead of the Café, researchers refined their plain language summaries and three questions to pose to visitors with the help of public involvement leads and a public contributor.


In conversation with: Dr Damien Ming (Clinical Research Fellow) and Dr David Freeman (Research Associate), from the Centre for Antimicrobial Optimisation, Imperial College London

 

Microneedle biosensor patch

What research project did you bring to the People’s Research Café and what is it about?

We presented our research which is exploring the use of a microneedle biosensor patch as an alternative to blood tests in healthcare. This is a small device around the size of a postage stamp and is placed on the skin of a person. This patch is then able to measure a range of important substances in the body continuously, without the need for drawing blood. These results are available instantly and we hope that using this device could help doctors and nurses deliver better healthcare in the future.

During the People’s Research Café, we brought along the patches so that the public could have a better look and feel of this device.

 

What questions did you ask visitors to the People’s Research Café about your project?

The questions we asked visitors are as follows:

  • What would you think about having a microneedle biosensor used on you with your consent, to monitor your health?
  • How do you feel about having this device being used on a young child or a baby? For example, this patch could be placed on the skin for up to 12 hours to help determine if they had a serious infection.
  • Would you be interested in monitoring your own health through using microneedle biosensor patch either in health and disease (e.g. if the biosensor was like a smart watch which gave you information about your health such as what your stress levels were like?)

 

Researchers and the public talking at the cafe

What did visitors tell you?

We spoke to around 20 individuals almost all of them felt that using this biosensor patch was preferable to having blood tests taken in terms of comfort and safety. Factors which were important in accepting the patch in adults and children include its performance and design. Suggestions on increasing acceptability, especially in children, include making a kid-friendly design (e.g., cartoon graphics on the device, as well as designs to make sure babies were not able to interfere with the working patch).

Interestingly the public raised additional points on how the patch would be integrated into the health systems. Topics raised include privacy concerns on how patient confidentiality can be maintained, whether the device can be hacked, as well as how the patients can use the results themselves to guide their own health. Finally, we also had interesting discussions on reducing the size of the device and making its manufacturing sustainable in light of issues around device waste.

 

How will what visitors told you impact and/or change your project?

The discussions gave us a better idea on how to shape and prioritise the development of the biosensor so that it can be used in healthcare (in the future). In particular, visitor feedback reiterated that the physical design of the biosensor and how it is used is just as important as the engineering aspects in making sure the technology works. We feel one of the main strengths of the device was that it was suited for use in babies and children. Visitor feedback was positive surrounding the device’s use in young people and has encouraged us to begin adapting the device to be smaller specifically for this application. Being able to talk to the public about this helped us understand the issues which we need to tackle to ensure our device is acceptable and usable, specifically addressing concerns over data management and protection (the NHS has stringent rules surrounding this, making this clear to the public allays a lot of fears) and the footprint and placement of the device.

 

What was your personal experience of taking part in the People’s Research Café?

We would really recommend it! Apart from having 4 cups of coffee (each!) we enjoyed being able to have an informal sit down with a range of people on our research. People were truly interested in the device and excited to talk about it, the consensus confirmed our view that people generally are happy and enthusiastic for a device of this type to be available in the future.

Series Navigation<< Understanding the impact of digital technologies on patient safetyA coffee for your thoughts: How and when can we personalise medicine? >>

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