Researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Tickle College of Engineering and the UT Institute of Agriculture are collaborating with technology firm CFD Research Corporation to develop a pioneering device that uses blood biomarkers to diagnose post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other complex conditions.
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, roughly 6% of Americans experience PTSD, including nearly 30% of military veterans exposed to combat, natural disasters, or other traumatic events. Current diagnostic methods are largely subjective, depending on patients’ ability and willingness to report symptoms and confront past trauma.
“With PTSD, diagnosis is complicated. Every patient’s condition is different,” said Jayne Wu, professor in the Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Wu and Shigetoshi Eda, a professor in the School of Natural Resources, adapted a handheld biosensor they initially developed to help dairy farmers detect diseases in livestock. The device employs AC electrokinetics-integrated capacitive (AiCAP) technology, which uses a specific AC signal to move bioparticles toward sensors capable of identifying disease-causing microbes.
The system, now patented, can detect a wide range of biomarkers, diagnosing diseases from bovine tuberculosis to human influenza.
Innovation Through Collaboration
In 2023, CFD Research approached Wu and Eda while developing a low-cost, minimally invasive PTSD diagnostic tool for the U.S. military. The AiCAP biosensor array, with its capacity to simultaneously detect multiple biomarkers, presented an ideal solution.
Unlike conditions such as influenza, which are associated with a single biomarker, PTSD involves numerous biomarkers—including proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and nucleic acids. Wu and Eda, in collaboration with CFD researcher David Gaddes, developed a sensor capable of identifying more than a dozen PTSD-related biomarkers from a single blood sample.
“Usually, you need a different detector for each type of biomarker,” Eda explained. “Jayne’s approach within AiCAP allows you to detect different types of biomarkers using a single device.”
This capability is a significant advancement for multiomics, a scientific approach that examines diverse biological data to understand overall organism function.
“We’re hoping this will be the first multiomic point-of-care biosensor,” said Gaddes. “It’s simple for a doctor to use: insert a sample, get a result.”
The team is designing a user-friendly display system to streamline data interpretation, enabling early intervention and allowing family physicians to make diagnoses without relying on offsite specialists. The device is being developed to be compact, portable, and affordable.
Advancing Personalized Medicine
The researchers plan to seek U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval and expand the technology to diagnose additional conditions, including organ damage, cancer, and sepsis. The collaboration between UT and CFD Research is critical for adapting AiCAP technology for clinical settings and scaling production for rapid deployment.
“It’s very valuable for industry and university researchers to collaborate,” Gaddes said. “University researchers develop innovative technologies, and companies like CFD Research can turn those innovations into real-world products.”
The device was showcased at the Military Health System Research Symposium in Orlando, Florida, in October 2024, where it received strong interest from attendees seeking to help prototype or be notified when it becomes commercially available.
“What excites me most about this project is the ability to perform fast multiomic sensing,” Gaddes said. “More importantly, it’s about creating a product that improves the diagnosis of complex diseases like PTSD.”
Wu emphasized that while further research is needed to link biomarkers to treatment strategies, “PTSD demonstrates the potential of our sensor array to advance personalized medicine. Multiomics sensing can support holistic PTSD treatment by providing a biological foundation to tailor integrative, whole-person care.”
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