Cláudia Ortet (DigiMedia PhD student) and Liliana Costa (DigiMedia member), researchers of the DigiMedia PLAYMUTATION project, published in the Special Issue Feature Papers in Wearables 2022 of the Journal Sensors the article entitled “Listen to Your Immune System When It’s Calling for You”: Monitoring Autoimmune Diseases Using the iShU App.

The reasoning for writing the article was based on the fact that even if the immune system plays an important role in protecting human beings against bacteria, viruses, fungi, among other pathogens, however, for reasons that are not fully understood, in some people this protective mechanism accidentally attacks the organs and tissues, which causes inflammation and may lead to the development of autoimmune diseases. Cláudia and Liliana developed and tested a smartphone and smartwatch prototype – iShU – for inflammation surveillance and autoimmune disease management, which allows the monitoring in pre-, during-, and post-inflammatory crises, meeting the personal needs of people with this health condition. Moreover, this prototype crosses research on wearable devices for collection of biofeedback data, mHealth for easy connectivity with systems, and gamification for encouragement of frequent usage and behavior changes to improve self-care in autoimmune diseases.

After publication, the authors received positive feedback on the purpose and significance of the app’s development for people with autoimmune diseases. It encourages not only PLAYMUTATION’s goals, but also the relevance and need for multidisciplinary teams in crossing different fields of research.