Animals, humans, and plants live in close association with each other. Their health and well-being are inseparably connected. If this delicate web of relationships is disrupted, drastic consequences can ensue. Whole ecosystems can be tipped out of balance by the influence of introduced chemicals, including heavy metals, microplastics, and pesticides, or by climate change, impacting all the organisms that live here – from the tiniest microorganisms up to plants and animals and even humans. The rise of infectious diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans and increasing antibiotic resistance are both spurred by the close interrelationships existing within ecosystems. The holistic “One Health” approach addresses this complexity. It stresses connections and contexts, dependencies and interfaces within ecosystems and focuses on balancing human and veterinary health as well as on habitat stability. In line with this principle, researchers at Fraunhofer ENAS are working on innovative and intelligent sensor solutions that open up a full view of the world with the aim of ensuring the health of nature, humans and animals for a future worth living in.
The concept “One Health” describes the interactions and interdependencies between and among the elements of the various ecosystems found on our planet, where animals, humans and plants live closely together in harmonious balance. But the slightest change in their habitat can tip these fragile relationships out of balance: “Pesticides, for example, are used in agriculture to control pests. But they also kill beneficial insects, like bees, which are responsible for pollinating crops, so they safeguard part of our food supply. And when pesticides enter the water supply, they pose a significant health risk to the plants and animals living there. These harmful substances can even work their way up the food chain, negatively impacting human health. This shows that everything is interconnected, and that the tiniest change anywhere in the web of life can affect us all. Only a healthy and unspoiled environment contributes to the well-being of all organisms within the global ecosystem, thereby also safeguarding our quality of life,” explains Dr. Mario Baum, head of the department “Health Systems” at Fraunhofer ENAS, where scientists are developing microelectronic components and sensor-based systems with the goal of exerting a positive influence on these factors.
Spotlight on animal health: protecting animal welfare
Water pollution shows how even the tiniest changes in environmental parameters within ecosystems can have a big impact on the organisms that make up those systems. If hormone residue enters water and wastewater from sewage treatment plants, for example, there is a considerable health risk to plants and especially to the animals living there. Absorption or ingestion of hormonal and hormone-like substances resulting from careless disposal of medications or from human urine can disrupt sexual development in amphibians and fish, adversely affecting not only these species’ own populations, but also the entire ecosystem in, on, and around the water.
Refined, thoughtfully designed technologies are needed to detect these classes of harmful substances in water supplies. As an example, a team of researchers involving Fraunhofer ENAS developed a portable system based on innovative quantum technologies that operates quickly and inexpensively in the field to detect the tiniest concentrations of hormone-like substances, so-called endocrine disrupters, in water and analyze them using AI-supported data processing. This significantly reduces the time and expense involved in detecting hormones in water through lengthy and laborious lab studies.
It is made possible by a compact spectrometry technology that uses single-photon sources based on quantum dots and single-photon detectors. To create the single-photon sources, the researchers use a key biological element known as DNA origami. DNA origami is created from a single strand of DNA that undergoes nanoscale folding to create functional 2D and 3D structures. Individual quantum dots – sources of light – are connected to and aimed at these structures. Unlike conventional light sources such as LEDs, these single-photon sources emit only single photons, so they significantly reduce noise and thus enhance detection sensitivity. Further optical components such as a single-photon detector complete the portable spectrometer for mobile analysis. Fraunhofer ENAS supports the development of the sensitive sensor system with its expertise in building and optimizing quantum dot based light sources, thereby helping to uncover water pollution that poses a threat to health and thus keep water ecosystems and their inhabitants healthy and in balance.
Spotlight on human health: holistic and continuous monitoring
Animals are not the only ones that can be sensitive to environmental changes, the influence of outside factors and harmful external conditions; humans can as well. Stressful situations cause massive releases of the stress hormone cortisol, which poses a significant health risk at chronically elevated concentrations. This may result in multiple conditions ranging from cardiovascular disease and gastrointestinal issues to burnout and depression. Continuous monitoring is needed to spot early warning signs of this kind of ongoing stress and potentially serious health problems early on and intervene to preserve people’s mental health.
“So far, though, concentrations of the stress hormone cortisol, which the body produces in higher levels in stressful situations, have only been measured on a spot-check basis. These measurements provide a snapshot of a patient’s stress level at a given point in time, but they don’t show whether that a person is continuously exposed to too much stress, causing them to produce too much cortisol over a longer period. Using these kinds of isolated factors to identify health problems like impending burnout and establish a comprehensive diagnosis remains a challenge,” Dr. Mario Baum explains.
The scientists are working to change that by developing wearable multi-biosensors worn close to the body to track vital signs and biomarkers continuously over a long time. Combining the flexible biosensors with electrochemical sensors through microfluidics allows the researchers to quantify a large number of parameters that indicate excessive stress. Problematic stress often leads to increased production of sweat, and the cortisol present in the sweat can be measured on an ongoing basis via patients’ skin. Combined with other vital values, an elevated cortisol level is an additional indicator of ongoing, chronic stress.
“This unique combination of physiological health parameters and electrically measured signals using wearables offers both doctors and patients a continuous and non-invasive way to monitor health. But that is not all. Sophisticated AI algorithms can also be used with the medical data generated in this way to recognize complex patterns and connections that open up a holistic and comprehensive picture of a person’s state of health, reliably supporting early diagnosis,” Dr. Mario Baum says.
The researchers’ goal is to harness their multisensors for real-time identification of additional biomarkers that previously could only be measured separately from each other via invasive means and then combine them with further health data. Ultrafine microneedles, thinner than a human hair, that can be incorporated into wearable technologies supply valuable additional measurement data to assess patient health. These microneedles can be used to analyze samples of the interstitial fluid located between human cells, which, like blood, is rich in biomarkers. This offers the potential to reliably check and monitor biological markers such as glucose and lactate concentrations, enabling preventive monitoring of patient health.
The sensor-based health technologies developed by Fraunhofer ENAS enable a better understanding of symptoms as a whole and take countermeasures early on. This could help eliminate the need for laborious regular lab tests, reduce hospital stays and ultimately cut costs in the healthcare system.
Spotlight on a healthy environment: sustainable agriculture and safe food
There is a close link between human and veterinary health as well as food safety and animal feed. Agricultural land requires an adequate supply of water and nutrients in order to produce reliable agricultural yields. This forms the basis for a healthy diet.
One way to achieve this is through continuous monitoring of agricultural land. For this purpose, researchers at Fraunhofer ENAS have developed smart sensors with fully recyclable components. Produced from ecofriendly biodegradable materials, these systems are positioned directly in the soil, where they continuously measure whether specific areas need to be irrigated or fertilized. This allows to conserve water resources and minimize the use of fertilizers and pesticides. It also helps to ensure the long-term fertility of the soil. As a result, improved growing conditions can lead to healthier food and animal feed being produced, with positive impacts on animal and human health.
In addition to sustainable growing conditions, continuously monitoring and thus ensuring the quality of food is an essential factor in minimizing health risks. But small-scale producers such as beekeepers, breweries, and dairies in particular do not have the technical or financial ability to monitor their products closely for residues or contaminations. The solution is a highly sensitive, portable microfluidic sensor system that can be used to check foods quickly and inexpensively right on site, thereby reducing food-related risks to consumers.
An international team of researchers worked with scientists at Fraunhofer ENAS to develop a rapid testing system that allows on-site testing. It can be used to reliably detect chemical and microbiological contamination in foods, such as pesticide residue in honey, microbial contamination in beer and heavy metals in milk. These risk factors are detected based on a combination of two measurement principles: localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) and direct fluorescence detection of pathogen DNA. In this method, bioreceptors are chemically linked to the surface of a nanoplasmonic grating, a plasmonic active gold surface. If harmful substances bond to the bioreceptors, the optical behavior of the nanoplasmonic grating changes. The sensor system allows to reliably detect even the slightest concentrations of microbial and chemical contaminants. This way, food producers can ensure that only perfect, healthy and safe foods enter the market.
Technological expertise par excellence: monitoring and diagnostic technologies of tomorrow
With its proven and long-standing expertise in research and development in the field of micro- and nanotechnologies for healthcare and life science applications, Fraunhofer ENAS addresses health as a global challenge that is important for our society as a whole. The institute brings together interdisciplinary know-how in sensor technology, microfluidics and sensor data fusion, enabling complex and smart monitoring and diagnostic systems. These sensor systems support valid diagnostic decision making, the monitoring of contaminants and the detection of pathogens, all with one aim: to ensure quality of life for humans and animals in an intact environment for a healthy future.
Contact our experts today to learn more about the work done by Fraunhofer ENAS in the field of health technologies!