Are High-Tech Clothes In Your Future?

It started with pants that repelled stains. Next we saw clothing that featured built-in insect repellent. Then along came clothes that can prevent colds and flu, never need to be washed, and protect against smog and air pollution.

Your clothes, it seems, are becoming pretty high-tech. Experts have long predicted that, as technology becomes more advanced, your clothing would be enhanced with high technology allowing us to, essentially, wear a high tech arsenal including computer equipment, communications devices, GPS, cameras, built-in cooling systems, and devices that generate electricity from your movement.

Some new fabrics may even be able to pinpoint medical problems before they reach dangerous levels. A smart sports bra under development at the University of Bolten in England may be able to detect breast cancer tumors before they grow large enough to be dangerous and spread. Other garments being designed may be able to monitor your body's vital statistics including temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, and the chemical composition of your sweat.

I'm forced to wonder, though, if many of these garments might end up being classified as medical devices, and thus subject to the clinical testing that medical devices have to endure. Otherwise, might we be faced with a bevy of clothing options that all claim to have health benefits, but which are completely untested? Do we really want our clothing choices to be even more confusing by adding in the claims that plague the dietary and nutritional supplement markets?

DeSimone Wins Lemelson-MIT Prize

Dr Joseph M. DeSimone of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been awarded this year's Lemelson-MIT Prize for his pioneering inventions and his ability to turn ideas into products. The $500,000 prize will be awarded at MIT's second annual EurekaFest.

DeSimone, only 44 years old, has had many breakthrough achievements. He developed a process for making plastics in a more environmentally-friendly way by using supercritical CO₂ instead of perfluorooctanoic acid to produce fluuropolymers, a plastic with a number of applications including non-stick cookware, data communications, semiconductors, and automotive products. The technology, which eliminates a chemcial that can linger in the bloodstream and the environment, has been licensed by DuPont.

DeSimone also teamed with Duke University cardiologist Richard Stack to create a new type of drug-coated heart stent—one that is made from a biodegradable plastic, instead of a metal tube permanently embedded in the body. Metal stents can have negative effects in the long-term, whereas DeSimone's bioabsorbable stents allow the body to heal more naturally. The technology is currently in clinical trials.

In addition, DeSimone and his team at the NSF's Science and Technology Center for Environmentally Responsible Solvents and Processes have developed a process to use technology currently used in creating microchips to fabricate nanocarriers for medicines. the Particle Replication in Non-wetting Templates (PRINT) technology can be used to manufacture highly-customizable nanobiomaterials that can be controlled for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Simone has formed a private venture, Liquidia Technologies, to commercialize this technology.

Congratulations to Dr. Simone on all of his accomplishments, and good luck to him in his future endeavours!