Traumatic brain injury (TBI) doesn’t unfold in a single moment—it evolves. Yet, the tools used to detect and monitor it often provide only brief, disconnected snapshots of a patient’s condition. For clinicians, that gap can mean delayed insights. For patients, it can mean missed opportunities for early intervention.
With support from the Trauma Research and Combat Casualty Care Collaborative (TRC4), Preclinical Translational Research Awardee Shawanna Tabassum, PhD., at The University of Texas at Tyler is working to close that gap. Her team, in collaboration with researchers at UT Health Science Center at Tyler, UT Health Houston, and UT Arlington, is developing SmartTBI, a wearable, AI-driven technology that uses noninvasive sweat biosensing to continuously monitor brain injury progression, offering a fundamentally new way to understand TBI in real time.
Closing the Gap in TBI Care
Today, TBI assessment remains largely episodic. Evaluations are often performed only after symptoms appear, and tools like imaging may not capture subtle or evolving injury.
Blood-based diagnostics, while informative, are invasive and difficult to repeat, and longitudinal monitoring often requires multiple visits. These constraints make it difficult to understand how brain injury changes over time, especially during the critical early stages or in field environments where rapid decisions are critical.
This gap between how TBI evolves and how it is measured has driven the need for a new approach.
From Snapshots to Continuous Insight
Smart-TBI shifts the model from isolated measurements to continuous monitoring. The system features a flexible, wristband-style device that detects brain injury biomarkers through sweat, combining multiplexed biosensors with artificial intelligence to track and predict injury progression over time.
“Traumatic brain injury is a dynamic condition, yet today’s clinical tools often provide only isolated snapshots of a patient’s status,” said Tabassum. “Our goal is to deliver continuous, noninvasive monitoring that helps clinicians detect changes earlier and make more informed treatment decisions.”
Where Wearables, Data, and AI Converge
The platform integrates multiple data streams – including sweat-based biomarkers, clinical assessment scores, and longitudinal physiological trends into a unified, real-time view of injury.
Artificial intelligence plays a central role in interpreting this data, analyzing patterns, identifying relationships, and detecting changes that may not be visible through traditional methods.
“What excites me most is bringing together wearable biosensors and artificial intelligence into a single platform that continuously monitors patients instead of relying on occasional measurements,” said Tabassum. “This has the potential to transform how TBI is detected and managed.”
Advancing Toward Translation
The work is advancing through preclinical development, with a focus on refining sensor technology, integrating AI-driven analytics, and validating continuous biomarker monitoring.
Researchers are evaluating the system’s ability to:
• Reliably measure TBI-related biomarkers over time
• Track injury progression through continuous data collection
• Deliver accurate, real-time insights
At the same time, several key challenges must be addressed before widespread deployment, including validating biomarkers across diverse populations, ensuring long-term sensor reliability, integrating AI insights into clinical workflows, and demonstrating performance in real-world applications.
Through 2027, the team will continue refining the technology, expanding validation efforts, and building the evidence needed to support clinical translation. Accelerating this progress will depend not only on technical success, but also on sustained investment and strategic partnerships that can help move the platform from development to deployment.
From Reactive Care to Real-Time Insight
If successful, Smart-TBI could shift the model of TBI care from reactive to proactive – supporting earlier detection, improved recovery tracking, and faster decision- making.
For military personnel and emergency responders, this capability could be especially significant, enabling real-time triage and informed decision-making in environments where seconds matter.
A Platform for the Future
Beyond TBI, the underlying wearable system represents a flexible platform with wide-ranging potential. By targeting different biomarkers, the technology could be adapted to monitor other injuries or chronic conditions, extending its impact across both acute and long-term care.
This scalability positions Smart-TBI as more than a single solution; it is a foundation for future precision health technologies.
A New direction for TBI care
As the field evolves, Smart-TBI reflects a broader shift toward continuous, data-driven health monitoring.
“The future of TBI care lies in combining wearable technologies, continuous physiological monitoring and artificial intelligence,” Tabassum emphasized. “By moving beyond isolated clinical measurements, we can create smarter systems that support earlier intervention, personalized treatment and better long-term outcomes.”
With continued development, Smart-TBI offers a glimpse into a future where brain injuries are not just detected but continuously understood.