Biomedical Circuits and Systems

Biomedical and Bioinspired Circuits and Systems

BIOMEDICAL AND BIOINSPIRED CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS
  1. Research
  2. Research Areas & Lines
  3. Biomedical and Bioinspired Circuits and Systems
  4. Biomedical Circuits and Systems

Biomedical Circuits and Systems

This research line embraces all activities related with the development of alternative bio-instrumentation circuits and systems required to reproduce classical and to propose new measurement techniques at bio-medical labs to improve the quality of acquired biosignals.

Targets design for bio-instrumentation systems are focused also to reduce the human effort and cost of biomedical assays, to obtain the minimum size and weight of biosystems (Lab-on-a-Chips, LoCs), to research new measurement methods based on high performance integrated circuits and system design with low-power consumption, wide bandwidth, reduced power supply levels and wireless communication capability. Electrical modeling of sensors required as signal transducers and interfaces must be incorporated to circuit design flow to obtain full system characterization. This research line also considers the modelling of heterogeneous systems for full system simulations.

Main recent activities are:

  • Alternative bio-signals acquisition techniques.
  • Development of CMOS circuits and systems blocks.
  • To exploit classical sensors and look for new sensor issues for solving biosignals and biomarkers measurement problem.
  • Modeling sensor performance and incorporate it into heterogeneous system simulation in a full system design process.
  • Development of wearable systems for edema test in heart fail patients.
  • Electro stimulation of stem cells in differentiation processes.
  • Developing multidisciplinary working skills.

Contact

Gloria Huertas Sánchez<  >

Alberto Yúfera García<  >

Keywords

  • Biomedical Circuits and Systems
  • Bio-Sensors
  • Laboratory on-a-Chip (LoC)
  • Bioimpedance
  • Microelectrode
  • Electro Stimulation (ES)
  • Clinical Applications
  • Electric Modelling of Biology Systems
Normalized frequency (A) and amplitude (B) measured at Vcell in a cell culture. The curves correspond to 2500 cells (W1, W3), 5000 cells (W4, W5) and 10000 cells (W7, W8), seeded at t = 0. Cell proliferation is measured with the oscillation parameters: frequency (fosc) and amplitude (aosc).
PCB developed for the leg edema test wearable system, to be applied in patients with heart fail disease. The size is set to 2x2 cm2.
Immunofluorescence images of Electrical Stimulated N2a cells. Green represents a-tubulin and blue DAPI. A Control with serum, B Control without serum, C 500 mV–100 Hz with serum, D 500 mV–100 Hz without serum. The blue square represents a 2× digital zoom. Stimulated cells reflect a neuron-like morphology.
A system for real-time remote monitoring of cell cultures based on the measurements obtained by an impedance sensor implemented with the Oscillation Based Test (OBT) technique developed at the IMSE. Cell cultures enable highly important studies to be carried out, as their monitoring allows studies to be carried out to find new treatments or to evaluate their effectiveness and toxicity.
Portable system for heart failure monitoring based on bioimpedance. The device integrates: (1) VOLUM PCB with two sides containing the AD5941 analogue front-end for bioimpedance measurements, NRF52832 microcontroller for processing and Bluetooth communication, BNO055 IMU for motion detection, and CR2032 button cell power supply; (2) Ankle bracelet with 4 dry stainless steel electrodes for long-term measurements; (3) Android application for data visualisation and transmission; (4) Database for storage and analysis

Research Highlights

S.F. Scagliusi, L. Giménez-Miranda, P. Pérez-García, D. Martín-Fernández, F.J. Medrano-Ortega, G. Huertas and A. Yúfera, "Bioimpedance Spectroscopy-Based Edema Supervision Wearable System for Noninvasive Monitoring of Heart Failure. ", IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, 2023  »  doi

J.A. Serrano, P. Pérez, P. Daza-Navarro, G. Huertas and A. Yúfera, "Predictive cell culture Time Evolution Based on Electric Models.", Biosensors. Vol. 13. Núm. 668. Pag. 1-15, 2023  »  doi

D. Martín, J. Bocio, S.F. Scagliusi, P. Pérez, G. Huertas, A. Yúfera, M. Giner and P. Daza, "DC electrical stimulation enhances proliferation and differentiation on N2a and MC3T3 cell lines. ", Journal of Biological Engineering. Vol. 16. Núm. 27. Pag. 1-13, 2022  »  doi

E. Rando, P. Pérez, S. Fernández-Scagliusi, F.J. Medrano, G. Huertas and A. Yúfera, "A Plethysmography Capacitive Sensor for Real-Time Monitoring of Volume Changes in Acute Heart Failure.", IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement. Vol. 70, 2021  »  doi

P. Pérez, J.A. Serrano, M.E. Martín, P. Daza, G. Huertas and A. Yúfera, "A computer-aided design tool for biomedical OBT sensor tuning in cell culture assays.", Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine. Vol. 200. Pag. 1-8, 2021  »  doi

J.A. Serrano, P. Pérez, G. Huertas and A. Yúfera, "Alternative general fitting methods for real-time cell-count experimental data processing", IEEE Sensors Journal, vol. 20, no. 24, 2020  »  doi

P. Pérez, G. Huertas, A. Maldonado-Jacobi, M. Martín, J.A. Serrano, A. Olmo, P. Daza and A. Yúfera, "Sensing Cell-Culture Assays with Low-Cost Circuitry", Scientific Reports, Nature Group, vol. 8, article 8841, 2018  »  doi

D. Rivas-Marchena, A. Olmo, J.A. Miguel, M. Martinez, G. Huertas and A. Yufera, "Real-time electrical bioimpedance characterization of neointimal tissue for stent applications", Sensors, vol. 17, no. 8, art. 1737, 2017  »  doi

G. Huertas, A. Maldonado, A. Yufera, A. Rueda and J.L. Huertas, "The Bio-Oscillator: A Circuit for Cell-Culture Assays", IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs, vol. 62, pp. 164-168, 2015  »  doi

Technology Transfer

Gloria Huertas Sánchez, Andrés Maldonado Jacobi and Alberto Yúfera García. Bioimpedance measurement system for wirelessly monitoring cell cultures in real time, based on an oscillation test using integrated circuits. 2014  »  pdf

Alberto Yúfera García, Alberto Olmo Fernández and Gloria Huertas Sánchez. Bioimpedance measuring system for wirelessly monitoring cell cultures in real time, based on CMOS circuits and electrical modelling. 2014  »  pdf

Key Research Projects & Contracts

Optimización de los procesos de diferenciación en células madre y tumorales basada en electroestimulación.
PI: Alberto Yúfera García / Paula Daza Navarro
Project Type: Plan Estatal 2021-2023 - Proyectos Investigación Orientada
Funding Body: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
Reference: PID2021-122529OB-I00
Sep 2022 - Aug 2025

Sistema de medida y electroestimulación para aplicaciones de diferenciación y motilidad celular (SYMAS 2) (US-1380661)
PI: Alberto Yúfera García / Gloria Huertas Sánchez
Project Type: Proyectos I+D+i FEDER Andalucía 2014-2020
Funding Body: Junta de Andalucía (Consejería de Economía, Conocimiento, Empresas y Universidad)
Reference: US-1380661
Jan 2022 - May 2023

SYMAS: Sistema de medida y electroestimulación para aplicaciones de diferenciación y motilidad celular (P18-FR-2308)
PI: Alberto Yúfera García / Gloria Huertas Sánchez
Funding Body: Junta de Andalucía - Proyectos de Excelencia
Jan 2020 - Dec 2022

VOLUM: Valor pronóstico en tiempo real para la monitorización del volumen mediante medidas de bioimpedancias en pacientes con insuficiencia cardíaca aguda (HEART-FAIL VOLUM)
PI: Alberto Yúfera García
Funding Body: Instituto de Salud Carlos III
Jan 2020 – Dec 2021

iSTENT: Real Time Monitoring of Hemodinamic Variables using Smart Stents (iSTENT) based on Capacitive and Bioimpedance Sensors (RTI2018-093512-B-C21)
PI: Alberto Yúfera García
Funding Body: Min. de Ciencia e Innovación
Jan 2019 – Dec 2021

MIXCELL: Integrated MicroSystems for Cell-Culture Assays
PI: Alberto Yúfera García
Funding Body: Min. de Economía y Competitividad
Jan 2014 - Dec 2017

All Research Areas & Lines