Most soldiers killed on the battlefield die within 30 minutes of being wounded. So the faster they can be diagnosed and treated, the better their chances of survival. At the University of California, San Diego, Joseph Wang is working on a "field hospital on a chip" that could start treating wounded GIs well before they reach a real field hospital. A professor of nanoengineering,Wang received a $1.6 million four-year grant from the U.S.Office of Naval Research to develop a device that would continually monitor sweat, tears, and blood for biomarkers that indicate common injuries, including trauma, shock, brain injury, and fatigue. Once an injury is detected, it would automatically trigger a dispenser to administer the correct medication.

Wang is working with Evgeny Katz, a chemist at Clarkson University who recently demonstrated that enzymes can measure biomarkers - including lactate, oxygen, and glucose - as well as provide the necessary logic to make diagnoses based on multiple biological variables. Wang says he hopes to "revolutionize the monitoring and treatment of injured soldiers." -TG

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