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HEIndividual fellowship2023–2025

FlexiMMG · Flexible Sensors for portable Magnetomyography: Envisaging innovation and Unveiling opportunities

Horizon Europe — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2023-10-01 → 2025-09-30
EU contribution
€189,687
Participants
3
Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF

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Results in brief

Flexible Sensors for portable Magnetomyography: Envisaging innovation and Unveiling opportunities

The Flexi-MMG project addresses the growing need for non-invasive, portable tools to monitor human muscle activity in real-time, particularly for applications in healthcare, rehabilitation, and human-machine interfaces. Traditional methods like electromyography (EMG) rely on electrical signals from muscles, but they suffer from limitations such as poor spatial resolution, susceptibility to motion artifacts, and inability to detect deep muscle signals. Magnetomyography (MMG), which measures the weak magnetic fields generated by muscle contractions (typically in the pico- to nano-Tesla range), offers a promising alternative due to its non-contact nature, high sensitivity to deep tissues, and immunity to electrical noise. The overall objectives of Flexi-MMG were to develop flexible planar Hall effect (PHE) magnetic sensors optimized for portable MMG applications. These sensors aim to achieve sub-nanoTesla resolution in low-frequency regimes (<20 Hz) through advanced noise analysis and material engineering. The project pathway to impact includes validating these sensors in biomagnetic setups, exploring translational uses in Internet of Things (IoT) devices and sustainable healthcare, and fostering interdisciplinary collaborations. By integrating flexible magnetoelectronics with biomedical engineering, Flex-MMG contributes to tackling challenges in neuromuscular disorder diagnostics, prosthetic control, and elderly care. Expected impacts include scalable, low-cost wearable devices that could benefit millions affected by muscle-related conditions, aligning with EU priorities in digital health and sustainable innovation. The project's scale is significant, potentially reducing healthcare costs by enabling remote monitoring and early intervention.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

Flexible magnetoelectronic is a new and yet-to-be-explored path for future biomagnetic sensing especially to detect the ultra-low human magnetic field using magnetic field sensors. Most of the recent approaches have been framed using magnetoresistive (MR)- sensors, benefiting their fascinating applications, especially in the field of biomagnetism and advanced health monitoring systems, and unveiling several prospective and applicative domains. In this perspective, flexible MR sensing technology emerges as a new horizon in skin sensorics for recording and imaging various human electrophysiological phenomena such as magnetocardiography (MCG), magnetomyography (MMG), and magnetoencephalography (MEG). Despite its promising futuristic applicability in biomagnetism and healthcare monitoring system, this sensing technology manifests several technical challenges, which limits its versatile functionality, and needs to be addressed properly for the development of NEXT-GEN healthcare technology and biomedical or biomimetic devices.In this proposed research, we intend to study the magnetic manifestation of human muscle activity, coined as MMG using an ultrathin flexible planar Hall-effect (PHE) sensor, which has not been explored or tested before. We aim to develop an efficient flexible sensing technology that enables us to detect a few pico-Tesla (pT)/ femto-Tesla (fT) signals at room temperature and demonstrates a feasible approach to reinvigorating the MMG technique. The proposed research directives also address the most awaited state-of-the-art sensing solutions to overcome the existing technical limitations in myograph recording. Moreover, this sensing technology offers qualitatively miniatured, flexible, and implantable futuristic MMG sensing devices and paves the way towards full-fledged on-skin touchless biocompatible interactive human-machine interfaces. In the next stage, we aim to extend this research for challenging MEG applications.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM DRESDEN-ROSSENDORF EV · DresdenCoordinatorGermany
  • EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH · ZuerichSwitzerland
  • LIBERA UNIVERSITA DI BOLZANO · BolzanoItaly

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union