Korea Brain Research Institute develops smart graphene biosensor for diabetic chronic wound care

The Korea Brain Research Institute (KBRI) announced Sunday that a research team led by Drs. Chu Nam-sun and Ku Ja-wook has developed a smart graphene biosensor platform capable of monitoring the complex wound-healing process in real time inside living tissue.

Wound healing is a complex immune process involving sequential stages — inflammatory response, tissue regeneration and scar formation. Throughout this process, cytokines — immune-regulating molecules that transmit signals between cells — serve as key indicators of a wound's inflammatory state and recovery stage. Conventional analysis methods required direct collection of tissue or blood samples, causing additional damage to the wound site, and could capture only a single point in time rather than enabling continuous real-time monitoring.

To measure changes in inflammatory cytokines during wound healing in real time, the research team optimized high-power laser-induced graphene technology. Laser-induced graphene forms a conductive graphene structure directly on a polymer substrate by irradiating it with a laser, allowing electrodes to be fabricated quickly without complex processing steps.

The team then bonded the fabricated electrodes to a soft, highly biocompatible silicone rubber (PDMS) substrate, achieving the flexibility needed to maintain stable contact with biological tissue during repeated movement and across curved skin surfaces.

The team also succeeded in selectively isolating and precisely detecting three types of cytokines — key indicators of wound healing and inflammatory response — by binding specific antibodies to the sensor surface. When applied to animal models of chronic wounds, including diabetic ulcers, the sensor tracked in real time the temporal changes in immune molecules from the initial inflammatory stage through the tissue regeneration stage. The results showed trends consistent with those of established standard analysis methods, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and flow cytometry (FACS).

The smart graphene biosensor is expected to find broad application not only in personalized management of chronic wounds but also in diagnosing various diseases in which inflammatory response is a primary mechanism and in tracking treatment responses. Once commercialized through future research into wireless data transmission and module simplification, it could serve as a core next-generation digital healthcare platform.

"The sensor we developed is an innovative technology that enables continuous monitoring of immune signals inside the body as they change over time, without opening the wound site or collecting tissue samples," said Dr. Chu. "In line with the government's policy direction for fostering advanced biotech and precision medicine, we will accelerate follow-up research aimed at realizing a personalized care system for chronic diseases."

The findings were published in the latest issue of the Journal of Nanobiotechnology, an international journal covering nano and biotech research.