Printed fitness tracker uses chemical sweat analysis

Electrozyme is a new fitness wearable that analyzes the chemical makeup of athletes' sweat to help them optimize performance and reduce risk of injury.

You might not think of sweat as a particularly valuable commodity. Well, according to Electrozyme, you’d be wrong. The San-Diego-based startup has developed a biosensor strip that monitors the chemicals in an athlete’s sweat, and gives real-time feedback on what their body needs.

Fitness wearables are increasingly in vogue, and there’s an ever-higher demand for personalized wellness routines. Now Electrozyme wants to make use of the 800 biomarkers contained in sweat to give wearer’s accurate, live feedback on their physical state. Unlike conventional fitness wearables Electrozyme monitors chemical as well as physical data. Co-Founder Jared Tangney claims that Electrozyme has the edge on rivals who “measure your pace and your heart rate, that’s about it.” This comprehensive data tracking allows Electrozyme to monitor electrolyte loss, hydration levels and risk of heat exhaustion.

As well as its novel use of chemical information, Electrozyme is distinct in being screen printed, allowing the thin biosensor to be worn directly on the users skin. This has the benefit of making Electrozyme cheap and disposable, a perk for those who find the idea of a reusable sweat monitor unsavoury.

The core technology behind the product was developed by Tangney’s Co-founder Josh Windmiller, an expert in printed biosensors. The Electrozyme team are working on pilot production, having teamed up with a Fortune-100 partner, and hope to release the biosensors by the end of 2015. The biosensors are intended to slot in between a standard fitness wearable and the users wrist, and the team are already exploring collaboration with producers of existing wristbands to fulfill their ambition to “finally make sweat useful.”