Sanchez Research Lab University of Illinois Chicago
Contact Info
851 S Morgan St
SEO Building Office 1104
Chicago, IL 60607 Contact via form Benjamin Sanchez Terrones

Measuring and monitoring human health.

We bridge engineering and medicine to develop technologies that transform health assessment and patient care

about card img
Digital Health
Wearable Biosensors
Health Technologies
Digital Sensors
Clinical AI
Physiological Monitoring
Biomarkers
Computational Modeling
OUR Research

Sensor Digital Health
&
Wearable Technologies

We develop methods and devices to measure the electrical properties of the human body. Our research focuses on bioimpedance, wearable sensing, and signal analysis to enable noninvasive monitoring and improved clinical decision-making.

Learn more
icon

Bioimpedance

Measuring electrical properties of human tissue for noninvasive diagnostics and physiological monitoring.

View more
icon

Wearable Devices

Developing wearable technologies for continuous, real-time monitoring of human health and function.

View more
icon

Physiological modeling

Analyzing physiological signals to assess, model, and better understand human health.

View more
icon

Clinical Applications

Translating engineering methods into practical tools for clinical use and patient care.

View more

Digital Health Platform for Clinical Endpoints of Speech and Oral Function

Standard treatment for head and neck patients with oral cavity cancers typically involves surgery often followed by radiotherapy, while most oropharyngeal cancers are treated with primary radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy. Although these treatments are effective for disease control, they carry profound and lasting impairments in speech, swallowing, and quality of life. Current clinical assessments remain burdensome, clinic-bound, and insufficiently objective and quantitative to detect sensitive patient-level change in speech and tongue function. Our lab has deployed a digital health platform at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX, to obtain automated speech and oral metrics and improve the care of head and neck cancer patients at large.

Fluid dynamics simulations for wearable hemodynamic monitoring

We developed a coupled particle–fluid dynamics simulation framework, capturing the multiscale, pulsatile nature of blood flow. This enables a mechanistic, physiology-grounded approach to interpreting blood flow and the potential wearable applications are many including diabetes, sepsis, peripheral artery disease, and broader cardiovascular care.

Bioelectrical modeling in MRI generated human models

Electrical signals are central to many medical technologies used for diagnosis, disease monitoring, and treatment. Our lab develops theoretical and computational models of the human body to uncover how disease alters these signals and to translate that knowledge into new biomarkers of health.

Fresh blood flow simulation
OUR PRODUCTION

Our Research

01

01

Scientific Discovery

modeling the scientific underpinnings in health and disease.

02

02

Technology Development

Designing biomedical sensing systems and digital health technologies.

03

03

Clinical Research

Evaluation of our technologies both in clinic and at home.

04

04

Real-World Impact

Translating research into tools that improve healthcare and patient monitoring.

IN THE MEDIA

Our Lab in the News

Forbes

Wearable gadgets could interfere with cardiac electronic devices, according to recent biomedical research.

Read Article →

Fox News

Wearable fitness trackers with sensing technology could interfere with implantable cardiac devices.

Read Article →

Sky News

Smartwatches and fitness trackers could trigger heart problems in vulnerable patients.

Read Article →

The Guardian

Wearable fitness trackers could interfere with cardiac devices, researchers warn.

Read Article →

The Independent

Fitness trackers may interfere with pacemakers, raising concerns for cardiac patients.

Read Article →

The Telegraph

Researchers warn that smartwatch technology could interfere with pacemakers.

Read Article →

British Heart Foundation

Smartwatch technology could interfere with pacemakers according to emerging research.

Read Article →

Yahoo News

Wearable fitness trackers may interfere with pacemakers and other cardiac devices.

Read Article →
WHATS NEW

Latest News & Achievements

SRL Presents at BMES2026

We're excited to present at BMES2026 this Thursday, October 22nd! We hope to see you there!

SRL 2026

Jake McCoy Receives NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

Congratulations to SRL member Jake McCoy on his NSF Graduate Research Fellowship! His research explores speech assessment tools and ultra-low-power wearable heart monitoring.

SRL 2026

PhD Candidate Awarded Tau Beta Pi Fellowship

Nate Hansen, a PhD candidate at the Sanchez Research Lab, was awarded the Tau Beta Pi Fellowship. His research focuses on AI-driven, noninvasive diagnostics for head and neck cancer survivors.

SRL 2026

Robust Cuffless Monitoring with Flexible Sensor
Placement

Our study shows that impedance plethysmography (IPG) remains accurate even when wearable sensors are slightly misaligned.

SRL 2026

Wearable Bioimpedance Smartwatch for Continuous
Blood Pressure Monitoring

A fully wireless smartwatch using bioimpedance enables continuous monitoring of cuffless blood pressure and blood flow dynamics.

SRL 2026