Real-time, Non-Invasive Cortisol Monitoring System for Assessing and Maintaining Cognitive Performance of Airmen

The greatest asset of the Department of the Air Force (DAF) is the people who serve the United States. To protect and fully utilize this asset, Airmen and Guardians need to be trained to be mission-ready at the highest levels of human performance. Yet, despite Airmen and Guardians having their physical performance tracked in many ways, including through wearables, body composition assessments, and physical training tests, reliable data on the stress response linked to cognitive performance of Airmen remain frustratingly elusive. An innovation that could capture real-time measurements of biomarkers of stress and resiliency would serve a clear DAF need of optimizing the cognitive performance of Airmen and Guardians. Cortisol is the gold-standard for measuring humans' stress levels. Our bodies do not differentiate between mental and physical stress. Our bodies register total load, and pilots can only be mission-ready if their total load is accurately measured so they can have sufficient time to recover. Cortisol levels fluctuate dramatically throughout the day in accordance with the body’s circadian rhythm. Dysregulation of a healthy cortisol cycle, particularly an attenuated cortisol awakening response in the morning, has been correlated with reduced cognitive function. E-Sentience, Inc. (doing business as DIA) is building a point-of-need platform technology that can measure cortisol through two drops of saliva and transmit the data in real-time to an edge device to improve cognitive performance monitoring and training of Airmen and Guardians. The feasibility of real-time electrochemical cortisol monitoring in saliva at biologically relevant levels has been demonstrated by both DIA’s early data in artificial saliva and other academic efforts. Under the proposed effort, DIA will develop a portable (roughly the size of an average smart phone), real-time salivary cortisol electrochemical measurement system that can measure artificial salivary cortisol levels within 15% of HPLC-MS/MS values with a run time of <5 minutes/sample. Sensitivity and specificity to cortisol as measured in artificial saliva samples will be 2 nanomolar. The device will perform within a range of temperature conditions 55 - 95 degrees Fahrenheit. The device performs in conditions of 0-100% humidity. The device performs within specifications if the individual has not consumed anything by mouth for at least 10 minutes before providing a sample.