Biomarker Discovery, Wearable Sensors, and Exploring Time-Series Biological Data
In this compilation post you'll find a series of articles on biomarker discovery, building wearable sensors for form vs. function, and exploring time-series biomarker data.
Today’s post is a compilation featuring articles on biomarker discovery, engineering wearable sensors for form versus function, and exploring time-series data to decode the body's physiological responses to exercise.
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🧬 Discovering Biomarkers — The Imprints of Health, Disease, and Performance
The pursuit of novel biomarkers and measurement methods is rapidly evolving, driven by advancements in hardware, growing consumer interest in health monitoring, and the integration of machine learning in biomarker discovery. As a co-founder of NNOXX, my team and I pioneered the development of a groundbreaking wearable device capable of real-time, non-invasive measurement of muscle oxygenation and nitric oxide levels. Throughout 2023, this technology found widespread adoption among elite sports teams, research labs, and high-profile athletes, marking a significant milestone in the field.
Our journey at NNOXX underscores the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, combining expertise from optical engineering, physiology, design, and software development to measure what was once unmeasurable.
Conversely, in fields such as cancer research and toxicology, the challenge lies in identifying elusive biomarkers crucial for understanding disease mechanisms and treatment responses. This article delves into the diverse realm of biomarkers, exploring their significance, discovery methodologies, and the ongoing quest to unravel the complexities of human health and disease. Let's delve in!
📱A Lab In Your Pocket - The Future Of High Performance
Imagine having a mini lab that you can wear, giving you insights into your body's response to exercise. That's exactly what the NNOXX wearable provides. Unlike first-generation muscle oximeters, like the Moxy Monitor, BSX Insight, and Humon Hex, NNOXX collects a range of biomarkers in real time, providing a comprehensive view of your performance.
One of the key metrics NNOXX tracks is muscle oxygenation (SmO2), which reflects the balance between oxygen supply and demand in your muscles. If your SmO2 level decreases, it means your muscles are utilizing oxygen faster than it can be supplied, and vice versa. While SmO2 is useful for understanding and optimizing exercise intensity, it's just part of the story.
What makes NNOXX stand out is its ability to measure SmO2, nitric oxide, acceleration, and skin temperature simultaneously. This approach not only tells you what's happening in your muscles but also why it's happening and how you can improve. In this article I’ll tell you how.
🩸 Muscle Oxygenation, A Real-Time Indicator Of Blood Lactate Levels
In a previous post titled Lactate Steady-State Training Made Easy, I discussed ways that athletes and coaches could use muscle oxygenation (SmO2) data to identify their maximum lactate steady-state in real-time, providing them with an easy-to-use method for guiding exercise intensity.
Since publishing that article, my team and I at NNOXX have created the Connect Forum, a place for users to share their data and case studies and engage in discussions. Recently, the NNOXX community has been having a lively discussion about using muscle oxygenation and nitric oxide measurements to predict blood lactate levels in real-time. In this article, I’ll explore the relationship between muscle oxygenation and blood lactate, and presents multiple case studies showing how we can use an athlete’s SmO2 data to predict blood lactate levels non-invasively and in real-time.
🫀Muscle Oxygenation Is a Reflection Of Exercise Intensity, Not A Measure of It.
Muscle oxygenation (SmO2) is associated with exercise intensity, yet it's important to distinguish that it reflects the body's response to exercise intensity rather than intensity itself. This distinction is crucial, allowing devices like NNOXX to identify physiological limitations, guide training, and track changes in fitness and physiology over time.
Recognizing that SmO2 reflects the body's response to exercise intensity offers a fresh perspective on interpreting its measurements. By comparing SmO2 changes across different exercises, insights into how the body manages the demands of each activity can be gained, facilitating a more nuanced understanding of exercise physiology.
Additionally, understanding that muscle oxygenation represents our body's response to exercise intensity, not intensity itself, opens up a new way of interpreting our SmO2 measurements. By comparing the changes in SmO2 during different exercises, we can gain insights into how our body copes with each activity's demands.
🚴 Jerk - An Underutilized Measurement Of Movement Efficiency
Recently, I've been interested in exploring how we can extract additional meaningful data from NNOXX's measurements. This led me to look at the relationship between jerk and fatigue. Whereas acceleration represents the rate at which velocity changes over time, jerk represents the rate at which acceleration changes. Thus, jerk captures the smoothness of a motion and can be used to quantify movement efficiency.
What's most interesting about jerk is that it's generally uncorrelated with power output, velocity, and acceleration during exercise. Additionally, if an athlete's movement patterns are smooth and efficient, jerk will remain stable even as their speed or power increases. In this article i’m going to expand on these ideas, discussing how NNOXX’s ability to measure jerk can help coaches and athletes better understand their bodies response to exercise.
🚀 Engineering In The Garden Of Forking Paths
Jorge Luis Borges's tale, "The Garden of Forking Paths," depicts Yu Tsun, a WWI spy, navigating a labyrinthine garden where each decision leads to divergent paths and outcomes. This metaphor illustrates the intricate nature of choices and their repercussions, suggesting that every decision shapes one's trajectory and future possibilities. This concept finds resonance in scientific and engineering endeavors, where each choice influences subsequent developments, a phenomenon known as path dependence.
At NNOXX, a company specializing in wearable sensor technology, this principle is palpable in every decision, from selecting priority biomarkers to design choices, affecting the trajectory of product development and potential outcomes. This article explores how the concept of Borges' garden of forking paths manifests in the process of creating wearable technologies, highlighting the profound impact of seemingly minor decisions on future iterations and possibilities.
Evan Peikon, is a physiologist, computational biologist, and entrepreneur. He spent seven years working with professional athletes, teams, and military special operations as a physiologist and data analyst before stepping away to focus on his startup company, NNOXX, where he’s a co-founder and the chief physiologist.
At NNOXX, Evan’s primary focus revolves around pioneering advanced, compact, wearable devices designed to measure diverse blood-based molecules. He and his team previously developed the first wearable device for measuring muscle oxygenation and nitric oxide levels in small blood vessels, unlocking the ability to measure physiological responses to exercise in real-time.
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Substack(s): Decoding Biology & On Human Performance
Company: NNOXX