Around 133 million people are affected by at least one chronic disease in the United States, according to the American Hospital Association. Unfortunately, much ambiguity surrounds chronic illnesses, such as Crohn’s disease and fibromyalgia, which many patients experience differently. Knowing how these illnesses manifest in each individual and how to diagnose them can allow clinicians to understand these diseases better. Additionally, if patients learn more about their condition, they can have greater control over their health.
One individual who is working to help the lives of those suffering from chronic illnesses is a former Texas A&M University student and current electrical engineering doctoral student at the University of California, Berkeley, Carla Bassil. She received a five-year National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to explore the area of wearable biosensors.
Receiving this fellowship is a huge honor because it means that distinguished scientists and engineers in my field have looked at my past work and future aspirations and decided that I’m somebody worth investing in.
“Receiving this fellowship is a huge honor because it means that distinguished scientists and engineers in my field have looked at my past work and future aspirations and decided that I’m somebody worth investing in,” Bassil said. “It gives me a lot of confidence in my research abilities. It also tells me I’m on the right track and have the support of the academic community to pursue and achieve my research goals to make significant contributions in my field and society at large.”
Bassil plans to use her research to advance personalized and proactive healthcare for people with chronic diseases. She hopes to reach patients individually based on their specific metrics through flexible, wearable biotechnology. Whether analyzing analytes in sweat, using gas sensing, or examining skin conductance, there are many ways to extract clinically relevant bio-signals from the body.
“If you have biosensors in a device that tracks your metrics daily, it could be revolutionary for people with chronic illnesses,” Bassil said. “An example of this is the glucose sensor for diabetic patients. They’re able to track their glucose levels every five minutes. This has been transformative for their health care experience, not only for them personally, being able to regulate their own health, but also for their clinicians to understand conditions more deeply.”
Typically, doctors diagnose patients with chronic diseases by ruling out other illnesses and putting patients on standard treatment plans that may or may not work. People, for example, with gluten intolerances, cannot be diagnosed clinically. Every time they eat something, they must guess how it affects their body and move on. However, many other compounding factors could also influence how they're feeling.
“There are chronic illnesses that can be very hard to diagnose,” Bassil said. “If you have a health monitoring device that has a biomarker that's associated with this disease, and you're able to collect data, then not only will you be able to understand your own body better in response to this disease, but you’re also adding to the clinical database. Through this body of knowledge, physicians themselves can understand how this disease manifests in different populations.”
“Growing up, I was in contact with a lot of people who suffer from chronic illness,” Bassil said. “There's some chronic illness within my family. When things suddenly go south in your health, it can put a lot of stress on you mentally and those around you. Allowing people to have more certainty in their health is really exciting because it allows them to have more control over their day-to-day lives.”
Bassil worked in many different labs at Texas A&M such as INVENT Lab and the Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics laboratory, gaining valuable research experience and contributing to translational projects impacting clinical solutions. Before focusing on biosensors, she studied temperature profiles, how skin interfaces with different materials and spinal cord injuries.
“I think exploring my options, in terms of research, not only helped me discover my passions early on but also gave me a broad skill set, which has enabled me to work on many interdisciplinary projects,” Bassil said. “It's important to recognize that most issues impacting healthcare are interdisciplinary in nature. You can't just attack it from one standpoint. You have to have a holistic view of the research problem.”
When things suddenly go south in your health, it can put a lot of stress on you mentally and those around you. Allowing people to have more certainty in their health is really exciting because it allows them to have more control over their day-to-day lives.
Bassil graduated from Texas A&M in 2022 with her bachelor’s in biomedical engineering and minors in electrical and computer engineering and mathematics. She received her master’s in 2023 from the Mays Business School at Texas A&M and plans on graduating from UC Berkeley in 2028. Her plans after graduation are just as impressive as her education.
"I aspire to be an entrepreneur," Bassil said. "From the electrical engineering standpoint, I want to make improvements on continuous monitoring biosensors to reach patients in the clinical setting. And because I've touched many aspects of this pathway, the biomedical side, the business side, and now the electrical engineering side, I feel confident that I can make this dream a reality."
She also plans to implement the research she is currently conducting to create a startup company that will hopefully reach the market and impact patients’ lives.
“I just want to express my gratitude for my time at Texas A&M,” Bassil said. “I was surrounded by exceptional professors and researchers who encouraged and supported me in reaching my goals, especially my previous advisor, Dr. Cynthia Hipwell. She fostered an environment of learning and growth that has helped me pursue my passions.”
“Furthermore, I am beyond grateful for my business education,” Bassil said. “My education was supported by the Brockman Scholarship, which was created to enable STEM students to take their contributions and help them reach the community. This scholarship allowed me to gain a business perspective when thinking about the projects I want to pursue right now and what is feasible to make an impact in the commercial landscape."