# Soft, Epidermal Biosystems with Advanced Sensing and Microfluidics Capabilities for Assessing Fatigability Biomarkers

> **NIH NIH R43** · EPICORE BIOSYSTEMS, INC. · 2020 · $251,695

## Abstract

Abstract:
Fatigue is a common, multifaceted symptom associated with the onset of functional decline in
aging populations. Typically reported in absence of a specific cause, fatigue is of increasing
clinical relevance because of its association with adverse health outcomes, onset of age-related
disability (frailty), and premature mortality. As the geriatric population continues to grow in the US
and worldwide, the ability to clinically assess and treat fatigue, as well as associated conditions
(frailty) will become increasingly paramount. Fatigue has been shown to be a key clinical indicator
of deterioration in quality of life for elderly populations; however, fatigue etiology is poorly
understood because there is a lack of quantitative methods to assess fatigue, and its physiological
and biochemical correlates are poorly understood. Clinicians primarily rely on self-reporting
assessments from patients to evaluate fatigue and mobility (e.g. muscle fatigue). Such self-
reporting strategies fail to capture the impact of fatigue on daily activities and quality of sleep. The
resulting ambiguity limits therapeutic development and clinical interventions. The emerging
concept of fatigability seeks to address this shortcoming by establishing a relationship between
the experiential levels of fatigue to the intensity, duration, and/or frequency of physical activity,
thereby enabling truly objective measures of fatigue. Although multiple approaches to measuring
fatigability have been proposed, no standardized method or instrumentation currently exists. The
present proposal addresses this unmet need with the design and development of a wearable,
noninvasive, “Tattoo-Inspired Bio-Integrated” (TIBI) platform that measures both biochemical
markers from eccrine sweat together with biophysical markers for the preclinical testing and
characterization of fatigability in geriatric populations. The insights from this proposed work will
enable assessment of the TIBI platform in free-living fatigability measurements, enabling a new
diagnostic paradigm for the onset of functional decline in aging populations.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10009439
- **Project number:** 1R43AG067835-01
- **Recipient organization:** EPICORE BIOSYSTEMS, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** ALEXANDER J ARANYOSI
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $251,695
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-07-01 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10009439

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10009439, Soft, Epidermal Biosystems with Advanced Sensing and Microfluidics Capabilities for Assessing Fatigability Biomarkers (1R43AG067835-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-08-13 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10009439. Licensed CC0.

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