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Dr. Amir Baniassadi, Ph.D. — Marcus Institute for Aging Research — Environmental Gerontology

Environmental Gerontology & Vulnerability Science For Health And Well-Being — Dr. Amir Baniassadi, Ph.D. — Marcus Institute for Aging Research, Hebrew SeniorLife / Harvard Medical School.


Dr. Amir Baniassadi, Ph.D. is an Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an Assistant Scientist in Marcus Institute for Aging Research (https://www.marcusinstituteforaging.o… where he works on environmental impacts on health and well-being of older populations.

Dr. Baniassadi works on the impacts of ambient air temperature and air quality (both indoors and outdoors) on outcomes related to the health and well-being of physiologically and socioeconomically vulnerable populations. His research applies novel environmental modeling and measurement techniques along with remote and long-term physiological and functional monitoring of individuals to establish relationships between exposure and outcome variables of interest outside clinical lab settings. The ultimate goal of his research is to develop environmental interventions that optimize the environment for health and longevity of older adults.

Dr. Baniassadi has a Ph.D. in Civil, Environmental, and Sustainable Engineering from Arizona State University and a B.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tehran. His post-doctoral training includes a three-year T32 fellowship in Translational Research in Older adults, and a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

#AmirBaniassadi #HarvardMedicalSchool #MarcusInstituteForAgingResearch #EnvironmentalGerontology #VulnerabilityScience #Exposome #Health #WellBeing #Wearables #SmartHome #AgingInPlace #Thermoregulation #HeatIslands.

Tiny chip could offer spectral sensing for everyday devices

Imagine smartphones that can diagnose diseases, detect counterfeit drugs or warn of spoiled food. Spectral sensing is a powerful technique that identifies materials by analyzing how they interact with light, revealing details far beyond what the human eye can see.

Traditionally, this technology required bulky, expensive systems confined to laboratories and industrial applications. But what if this capability could be miniaturized to fit inside a smartphone or ?

Researchers at Aalto University in Finland have combined miniaturized hardware and intelligent algorithms to create a powerful tool that is compact, cost-effective, and capable of solving real-world problems in areas such as health care, food safety and autonomous driving. The research is published in the journal Science Advances.

Printable molecule-selective nanoparticles enable mass production of wearable biosensors

The future of medicine may very well lie in the personalization of health care—knowing exactly what an individual needs and then delivering just the right mix of nutrients, metabolites, and medications, if necessary, to stabilize and improve their condition. To make this possible, physicians first need a way to continuously measure and monitor certain biomarkers of health.

To that end, a team of Caltech engineers has developed a technique for inkjet printing arrays of special that enables the mass production of long-lasting wearable sweat sensors. These sensors could be used to monitor a variety of biomarkers, such as vitamins, hormones, metabolites, and medications, in real time, providing patients and their physicians with the ability to continually follow changes in the levels of those .

Wearable biosensors that incorporate the new nanoparticles have been successfully used to monitor metabolites in patients suffering from long COVID and the levels of chemotherapy drugs in at City of Hope in Duarte, California.

New wearable sensor detects even more compounds in human sweat

If you have ever had your blood drawn, whether to check your cholesterol, kidney function, hormone levels, blood sugar, or as part of a general checkup, you might have wondered why there is not an easier, less painful way.

Now there might be. A team of researchers from Caltech’s Cherng Department of Medical Engineering has unveiled a new wearable sensor that can detect in even minute levels of many common nutrients and biological compounds that can serve as indicators of human health.

The was developed in the lab of Wei Gao, assistant professor of , Heritage Medical Research Institute investigator, and Ronald and JoAnne Willens Scholar. For years, Gao’s research has focused on with medical applications, and this latest work represents the most precise and sensitive iteration yet.

Focus on organic transistors for health sensors within living organisms

QUT researchers are part of an international group who have explored ways in which organic transistors are being developed for use as wearable health sensors.

The currently available bioelectronic devices, such as pacemakers, that can be embedded with the are mostly based on rigid components.

However, the next-generation devices—which are researched and developed by bioelectronic engineers, , and materials scientists—will use soft organic materials that allow comfortable wearability as well as efficient monitoring of health.

Plastic supercapacitors could solve energy storage problems

Microscale light-emitting diodes (micro-LEDs) are emerging as a next-generation display technology for optical communications, augmented and virtual reality, and wearable devices. Metal-halide perovskites show great potential for efficient light emission, long-range carrier transport, and scalable manufacturing, making them potentially ideal candidates for bright LED displays.

However, manufacturing thin-film perovskites suitable for micro-LED displays faces serious challenges. For example, thin-film perovskites may exhibit inhomogeneous light emission, and their surfaces may be unstable when subjected to lithography. For these reasons, solutions are needed to make thin-film perovskites compatible with micro-LED devices.

Recently, a team of Chinese researchers led by Professor Wu Yuchen at the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has made significant strides in overcoming these challenges. The team has developed a novel method for the remote epitaxial growth of continuous crystalline perovskite thin films. This advance allows for seamless integration into ultrahigh-resolution micro-LEDs with pixels less than 5 μm.

Next-generation wearables: Compact cooling pump drops temperatures by 16°F

UCLA materials scientists have developed a compact cooling technology that can pump away heat continuously using layers of flexing thin films. The design is based on the electrocaloric effect, in which an electric field causes a temporary change in a material’s temperature.

In lab experiments, the researchers found that the prototype could lower ambient temperatures of its immediate surroundings by 16 degrees Fahrenheit continuously and up to 25 degrees at the source of the heat after about 30 seconds.

Detailed in a paper published in the journal Science, the approach could be incorporated into wearable technology or portable cooling devices.