Uric acid skin sensor to guide gout treatment and diet
Official title: Cutaneous uric acid and metabolite monitoring to improve individual response to pharmaceutical and dietary treatment in patients with gout
Funded at California Institute of Technology · NIH-11395594 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A skin patch that measures uric acid in sweat is being tested to help people with gout manage their diet and medications better.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | California Institute of Technology NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Pasadena, United States) |
| Project start | June 13, 2022 |
| Project end | August 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $796,085 |
| NIH project number | 5R33DK132666-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11395594 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults with gout who are on or off urate-lowering therapy and willing to use a skin patch and digital reports.
✕Less likely to help
Those who cannot or prefer not to use wearable monitoring devices or engage with digital reports may not benefit.
What this research studies
This project tests a non-invasive skin patch that tracks uric acid and related metabolites to support real-time decisions about meals and urate-lowering therapy for adults with gout. It will add morning and evening monitoring, develop a user-friendly interface, and run a 10-week randomized trial to see if feedback improves gout-related outcomes. Participants will wear the patch, receive personalized reports, and use the data to guide dietary choices and medication adherence. The study aims to understand how better monitoring of uric acid and metabolites affects gout control and related metabolic health markers.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, patients could better manage gout through timely dietary and medication decisions guided by easy-to-use monitoring data.
How similar studies have gone: Previous work shows skin-based uric acid correlates with blood levels; this study tests an expanded, user-friendly monitoring approach.
Where this research is happening
-
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Gao, Wei — California Institute of Technology
- Study coordinator: Gao, Wei
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
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Treat-to-Target Urate in Gout: A New Approach for Better Pain and Health
A large clinical trial tests whether aiming for a specific uric acid level in gout patients improves symptoms and health outcomes compared with avoiding symptoms.
-
Translational Genomics in Gout: Linking GWAS Signals to Mechanisms
Aims to understand why some people with high uric acid develop gout by connecting genetic clues to the biology of joint inflammation.
-
Genetic clues to gout flares through cell gene activity in blood and joint fluid
Researchers will study how genes turn on or off in immune cells from blood and joint fluid during gout flares to understand why flares happen.
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Wearable skin patch that tracks uric acid and metabolites for people with gout
A wearable skin patch will measure uric acid and other metabolites around meals to help people with gout make better diet and medication choices.
-
Gout and Kidney Disease: How gout changes as kidney disease gets worse and after kidney transplant
This project follows people with gout as their kidney disease progresses toward dialysis or transplant, using national kidney data to understand how often gout flares happen and how care needs change.
-
SGLT2 inhibitors for gout care in adults with diabetes
A randomized trial is testing whether an SGLT2 inhibitor can help reduce gout flares and improve heart and kidney health in adults with type 2 diabetes.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.