Wearable device and phone app to monitor myasthenia gravis symptoms
Official title: Wearable Sensor and Digital Technologies for Quantitative Assessment and Remote Monitoring of Symptoms in Myasthenia Gravis
Funded at Biosensics, LLC · NIH-11237038 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A wearable sensor and mobile app will continuously track muscle weakness, speech changes, and drooping eyelids for people with myasthenia gravis.
Quick facts
| Grant type | Sbir 2 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Biosensics, LLC NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Newton, UNITED STATES) |
| Project start | September 15, 2022 |
| Project end | November 30, 2026 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $973,917 |
| NIH project number | 5R44NS122672-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11237038 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults with a confirmed diagnosis of myasthenia gravis who experience fluctuating muscle weakness, speech changes, or eyelid drooping and who can use a wearable device and smartphone app are ideal candidates.
✕Less likely to help
People without MG, those unable to wear sensors or use a smartphone, or those with conditions that interfere with reliable sensor or speech data may not benefit.
What this research studies
You would wear a small sensor (MGWear) that gathers movement and function data while a mobile app records speech and facial signs like ptosis. The devices send data securely to a HIPAA-compliant cloud where algorithms analyze symptom patterns and fluctuations over time. BioSensics is working with Massachusetts General Hospital and the MGNet consortium to collect patient data and refine the measurements. The system is being validated against clinic exams to see if it captures symptom changes between visits.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could help you and your care team monitor MG symptoms from home, detect worsening sooner, and tailor treatments more precisely.
How similar studies have gone: Wearable monitoring and speech-analysis approaches have shown promise in other neurologic diseases, but continuous remote monitoring specifically for MG is relatively new and still being validated.
Where this research is happening
-
Biosensics, LLC
Newton, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Vaziri, Ashkan — Biosensics, LLC
- Study coordinator: Vaziri, Ashkan
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
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Understanding how autoimmunity causes myasthenia gravis
This project looks at why the immune system attacks the nerve-muscle connection in myasthenia gravis and how different patient groups are affected.
-
Biological age in myasthenia gravis: guiding who responds to treatment
A patient-friendly look at how a person’s biological age, not just their calendar age, might predict how MG patients respond to treatment and how treatments could even reduce biological aging.
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CapTURE-MG: A patient-friendly MG data toolkit in a common EHR
A multi-site effort to use a streamlined MG toolkit inside the Epic EHR to collect consistent, real-world information about myasthenia gravis from routine care.
-
Rare Disease Network for Myasthenia Gravis
A nationwide effort to improve diagnosis, monitoring, and trial readiness for people with myasthenia gravis through biomarker work and better care tools.
-
Understanding how autoimmune attacks cause myasthenia gravis
Researchers are studying how the immune system mistakenly targets the neuromuscular junction in myasthenia gravis to identify why the disease starts and how it progresses.
-
Mechanistically informed deep learning to study autoreactive B cells in Myasthenia Gravis
A study using advanced computer models to find hidden immune-cell signals in people with Myasthenia Gravis, including those who don’t yet show detectable antibodies.
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.