“Some people have to be sedated in order to complete an MRI, as they are not able to be in a confined space for long periods,” Cheng said. “That is something that could be overcome with the proposed research.”

Once researchers have a prototype of the stretchy brain sensor, they will test its function and capabilities, led by Junjie Yao, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Duke University, and Wuwei Feng, division chief of stroke and vascular neurology and professor of neurology at the Duke University School of Medicine. All collaborators will work together to assess the collected data to identify potential clinical applications for the technology.


The new technology could be used to detect brain injuries or developmental disorders in both children and adult patients, Jing said, in discussing some of the possible applications. And future iterations of the device may be applied to other areas of the body, such as the chest, to detect breast cancer.

“The research supported by this grant will provide an interesting and powerful platform for us to build future studies on top of it,” Cheng said. “The mechanism is exploratory, but if it works, we will have the platform available to pursue something major.”

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