Center for Personalized Health Monitoring | Institute for Applied Life Sciences

World-leading impact for advanced personalized health monitoring

The Center for Personalized Health Monitoring (CPHM) accelerates the development and commercialization of low-cost, multi-function, wearable, wireless sensor systems for personalized health care and biometric monitoring. The CPHM:

Conducts basic and translational research across the technical roadmap for advanced personalized health monitoring
Trains the future and current workforce in key skills needed for the emerging digital health industry
Develops and integrates new technologies in collaboration with industry and clinical partners that pave the way to commercialize innovations and promote economic development

The CPHM consolidates critical expertise from polymer science and engineering, computer science, kinesiology, and neuroscience as well as from other departments and collaborators such as the UMass Medical School and industry.

Through collaboration, the CPHM is establishing a robust, vertically integrated ecosystem enabling rapid design, prototyping, and human interface testing under real-world conditions. The center iterates sensor development from concept through validation, to advanced manufacturing of flexible sensor platforms.

In addition, the CPHM provides an industry collaborative facility wherein industry can work directly with CPHM staff and researchers to develop and validate next generation health monitoring technologies and products.

The focus of our research falls into the following thrusts:

CPHM Research Thrust

Health Tech for the People

Ethics of technology and accountable, human-centered design, evaluation and translation of health monitoring technologies for the public interest. The purpose of the HT4P graduate fellowship is to encourage graduate students to integrate considerations of ethics of technology and accountable, human-centered design, evaluation and translation of health monitoring technologies for the public interest into their program of research with mentorship support and community.

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CPHM Research Thrust

Human-Centered Robotics

Robots promise to enhance human health and quality of life in a multitude of ways (Figure 1). For instance, they hold the potential to (1) reduce the risk of injury during strenuous activities, (2) increase overall health through implicit exercise, (3) restore functional behaviors for those with motor impairments, and (4) offer opportunities for remote operation, ensuring the safety of medical and emergency personnel dangerous environments (e.g., infectious disease outbreaks, disaster relief).

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CPHM Research Thrust

Neuroscience of Sleep and Aging

Sleep is impaired in healthy aging and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Deficits include reduced total sleep time and sleep efficiency, reduced time in REM and slow wave sleep (SWS), and increased time in NREM1. Sleep spindles and slow waves, key sleep features associated with plasticity and cognitive function, also decline.

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