Sports medicine · Concepts

From the sideline to the recovery room.

Athletes are tested by feel: how they look after a hit, how they say they slept, how heavy their legs are. Intelligent Material makes the body's own signals measurable from a drop of blood, a little saliva or a painless patch, quickly enough to use on the field and often enough to see a trend.

The sideline question Track recovery

Concept · the sideline question

Was that a concussion? Ask the blood.

After a hard hit, damaged brain cells release proteins such as UCH-L1 and GFAP into the blood, at a few picograms per milliliter. Today's cleared tests for them need serum, plasma or a venous draw in a hospital. Our concept is a finger-prick panel read by time-gated crystals, fast enough for the locker room.

Hours since the hit2 h

UCH-L1 (neurons)—

GFAP (glial cells)—

Shapes are approximate, after published studies in which UCH-L1 peaked within about 8 hours and GFAP around 20 hours. Concept only; not a cleared test or a substitute for clinical evaluation.

See the full neurotrauma panel →

Concept · train hard, recover smarter

Catch overtraining before it costs a season.

Overreaching shows up in the body before it shows up on the scoreboard. Watched against each athlete's own baseline, a few markers drifting together can mean the training load has outrun recovery: muscle damage, stress hormones, inflammation and a falling first line of immune defense.

Week of the blockWeek 6

Markers off baseline—

Status—

Illustration with invented data. General wellness and training guidance, not diagnosis.

What we can measure

The athlete's dashboard.

The same crystal reporters and reader can carry different panels. These are the markers sports scientists already watch, made fast and repeatable enough for daily use.

MuscleCK and myoglobinRise after hard or eccentric work and usually peak a day or two later. A guide to how much damage a session did.

StressCortisol, testosteroneThe testosterone-to-cortisol balance is a classic window on recovery and overreaching.

Inflammationhs-CRP and IL-6Short spikes are normal after effort. A raised baseline that will not settle is not.

ImmunitySalivary IgATends to fall with heavy training and has been linked to more colds and sore throats.

EnduranceFerritin with CRPIron stores matter for endurance athletes. Reading ferritin next to CRP keeps inflammation from hiding low iron.

HeartTroponin and BNPSmall, short-lived rises are common after long races and usually harmless. Context and trends tell the difference. CardiacDx →

BrainUCH-L1 and GFAPThe brain-injury markers above, for the sideline and the days that follow.

HormonesCycle trackingMenstrual-cycle hormones help female athletes plan training and spot energy deficiency early.

How the sample is taken

Painless enough to do every day.

Trends need frequent measurements, and athletes will not give blood every morning. Three ways in, all read by the same crystal technology.

Microneedle patchAbout a microliter, painlesslyThe DisposableDx patch samples skin fluid through microneedles, with the reader built in.See DisposableDx → SalivaCortisol and IgA from a swabMorning and evening samples map the daily stress curve without a needle.See the wellness concept → Finger-prickA drop of bloodFor the sideline concussion panel and anything that needs blood.See Lateral Flow →

Clean sport

Know what is in the bottle.

Contaminated supplements are a known cause of failed doping tests: an athlete takes a product in good faith and it contains something it should not. The same covert crystals that protect banknotes and medicines can mark a supplement's capsules, label and seal, so a team can confirm a batch is genuine and came from a tested source.

Tested batchA crystal code ties each lot to its independent test results.

Sealed and genuineTamper-evident seals and labels a copy cannot reproduce.

Checked in secondsA handheld or phone reader confirms the code at the team facility.

Gear tooThe same marks authenticate jerseys, balls and equipment against counterfeits.

See Authentication →

Partners wanted

Measure the athlete. Not just the stopwatch.

We are looking for teams, leagues, sports-medicine clinicians and performance scientists to help shape these concepts.

Talk to NovaVera Contact IMS

All sports-medicine applications on this page are concepts in development, not cleared medical devices.