Texas A&M Department of Biomedical Engineering
Sensing the human body anywhere on Earth, and beyond.
Continuous, noninvasive physiological monitoring for wherever people live, work and explore: at home, in the hospital, in the field and in orbit.
Rapid prototyping
From screen to skin.
Enclosures in CAD and circuits in PCB layout, printed, assembled and on a person in the lab, then streaming real physiology whether the mission is spaceflight, the field or a morning run.
Mission | February 2027
Next stop: the International Space Station.
A chest-worn wearable biosensor designed and built in OBSL with the Australian National University has been selected to fly with astronauts to the International Space Station in February 2027 to monitor crew physiology in orbit.
Who we are
Engineering-driven biomedical research.
Part of the Texas A&M Department of Biomedical Engineering and housed in the Health Technologies Building on West Campus Research Park, OBSL designs, rapidly prototypes, validates and translates next-generation physiological sensing technologies.
Founded on optical measurement (Raman spectroscopy, fluorescence, polarimetry and particle image velocimetry), the lab has grown into a full biomedical systems environment: multimodal biosensing, embedded electronics, adaptive materials, signal processing and human-centered device design.
Collaboration
Engineering that works across campus and around the world.
Our sensors are built with partners across Texas A&M, the University of Arizona and the Australian National University, spanning computer science, medicine, veterinary medicine, animal science, biomedical engineering, transportation safety and spaceflight, from people to dogs to horses to astronauts.
Smart wearable continuous cuffless blood pressure, cardiac and respiratory monitoring that works across all skin tones, with Dr. Ricardo Gutierrez-Osuna, Professor of Computer Science & Engineering, director of the PSI Lab and NSF CAREER awardee, and advanced heart failure and transplant cardiologist Dr. Carl Tong, MD-PhD, FACC, Medical Director of Heart Failure at Banner University Medical Center Tucson and Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center.
Noninvasive hemodynamic monitoring in dogs with veterinary anesthesiologist Dr. Mauricio Loría Lépiz, Clinical Associate Professor of Anesthesia & Analgesia, funded through Texas A&M’s competitive Targeted Proposal Teams program. Together we have collected the data, with two publications in preparation.
Untethered wearables recording pulse and respiration in horses with board-certified equine internist Dr. Rebecca Legere, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, director of the Legere Laboratory for Equine & Veterinary Innovation, and Dr. Erica Macon, Assistant Professor of Equine Science and Texas A&M AgriLife Research equine scientist, building toward a formal study and joint proposals.
Sensorized catheters and phantoms for fetal heart surgery with Dr. Balakrishna Haridas (AIMBE and NAI Fellow), Dr. Taylor Ware, Janeen Judah ’81 Engineering Excellence Professor (AIMBE Fellow, NSF CAREER awardee), and Senior Research Engineer Achu G. Byju.
Wearable IMU monitoring that quantifies what vehicle impacts do to the human body.
A chest-worn biosensor selected to fly with astronauts to the International Space Station in February 2027, built with Dr. Aaron Tranter, Research Fellow in Quantum Science & Technology at ANU and CEO of machine-learning company Aqacia. OBSL’s place on the flight is thanks to alumna Dr. Kimberly Branan, who met Dr. Tranter at the 2024 Global Young Scientists Summit in Singapore and introduced him to our team.
Explore OBSL
Engineering the future of physiological sensing.
From atom-thin materials and custom electronics to field-ready wearables, see where our work goes and how we build it.
Where our sensors go
Spaceflight, military, rural and remote health, hospitals and pediatric care.
Explore applications →CapabilitiesWhat we build
Wearables, embedded electronics, phantom validation, optical sensing, neural interfaces and AI.
Explore capabilities →ResearchActive programs
Ten projects from cuffless blood pressure to astronaut glove force mapping.
Browse research →
Work with us
Collaborate with OBSL.
We partner with clinicians, industry, and government research organizations, and we train undergraduate and graduate engineers across hardware, fabrication and data analysis.
“The most exciting aspect of my current research is that we develop optical, laser, and nanoparticle-based biomedical sensors that have the potential to make a difference in people’s lives in many different ways.”Gerard L. Coté, Ph.D., Director and Principal Investigator
Latest publications
New from the lab.
High sensitivity cardiac troponin I detection via MP-locked aptamer and multimeric DNAzyme-coupled hyperbranched hybridization chain reaction
Tripathy S, Sharma S, Wai NK, Jaitpal S, Dongchau A, et al.
Small
Hierarchical 3D-printed electrochemical SERS platform integrated with molecular imprinting for levetiracetam monitoring
Negahdary M, Vu NN, Althumayri M, Horner R, McMurray JP, et al.
Biosensors and Bioelectronics
β-Anomeric mannopentaose-based nonenzymatic NIR glucose sensor enabling cost-effective continuous monitoring
Tripathy S, Al Husseini D, Martinez CI, Dongchau A, et al.
ACS Measurement Science Au
A hyperbranched rolling circle amplification assay using aptamer–hemin/G-quadruplex recognition for the detection of creatine kinase-MB
Mirsadoughi E, Tripathy S, Zare F, Coté GL, Mabbott S
ACS Measurement Science Au
Hypoglycemia prediction in type 1 diabetes with electrocardiography beat ensembles
Tseng MR, Vyas K, Das A, Quamer W, Dave D, et al.
Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology
Multimodal wearable chest device for cardiovascular metric monitoring
DeVries AE, McMurray J, Hsiao CT, Idah-Oze S, Coté GL
SPIE Optical Diagnostics and Sensing XXVI