Asli Dirik’s Infection-Detection Invention

While in undergraduate school in London, Asli Dirik was sidelined by a common but confounding condition: bacterial vaginosis, an overgrowth of harmful bacteria that disrupts the vaginal flora. She eventually received successful treatment, and the experience inspired her to create an at-home solution at Tufts’ Silklab.

The Silklab uses silk proteins to create biomedical devices and sensors—in Dirik’s case, wearable liners that detect bad bacteria without a doctor’s visit. The research is the focus of the interdisciplinary doctorate she is pursuing at Tufts. 

What drew you to this work?

I studied product design at Central Saint Martins. Product design involves solving problems creatively, which is why I enjoy it.

While in my final year, I began suffering from bacterial vaginosis, which limited my quality of life. It took me around eight months just to get diagnosed, despite the best doctors in the United Kingdom and in Turkey, where I’m from.

I realized that we don’t have enough information and confidence to actually treat and diagnose something as simple as bacterial vaginosis. It’s a common infection; up to 30% of women will have it during their lifetime. 

I thought: Why don’t we have solutions? Why can’t I test myself? I began to talk to friends and realized how taboo this topic is—and how many of them had the same problem and just weren’t bringing it up.

We have incredible technology in today’s world. We can send a rover to Mars. But we can’t really differentiate a yeast infection from bacterial vaginosis.

I began to work on underwear that detects vaginal pH levels. But I realized that, to expand from my design, I’d need to build the product myself, with engineering skills. I came across Professor Fio Omenetto’s research about t-shirts that sense pH. The technology inspired me. Without any hope, I sent an email saying, “I love this research. Can you help me?”

He called me immediately. Not only did he help me, he asked: “Do you want to come here and work on this?” 

What are you working on now?

I’ve been learning the chemistry behind colorimetric sensing and how to detect bacteria in an easy and accessible way, so I can develop a product that helps women understand what’s going on in their bodies and prevent anxiety.

Beyond creating a sanitary, everyday underwear liner for vaginal secretions, my larger goal is to collect information from those secretions that probably otherwise wouldn’t be included in female health research because of its taboo nature. I want to understand women’s microbiomes while correlating the information with lifestyle factors, such as nutrition and alcohol use.

How will the liner work?

In the lab, we’re developing colorimetric inks, which change tone and color when in contact with specific bacteria. I’ve created a multiple sensing system, where every color changes due to different bacteria.

Ultimately, women will be able to scan the back of their liner before throwing it in the trash. Using a phone application, the scanned image will indicate how much good bacteria, lactobacillus, is present in the vaginal environment, which is one of the best ways to diagnose BV.

By detecting microbial activity markers, we get a snapshot of what’s going on in the vaginal environment. This allows us to get longitudinal data. Now, women go for clinical tests maybe once or twice a year, but the vaginal environment changes and fluctuates all the time, based on our nutrition or our clothes. That’s why diagnosing infections is so hard.

But, if we get someone’s information from a sanitary liner on a regular basis, we can create their baseline, and the way we diagnose infections could change. The app gets the data, which women can then show to their provider.

How do you hope your research will change the world?

Detecting BV is important to understanding vaginal health overall. When someone has BV, they have a higher chance of HPV or of preterm labor if pregnant. I want to give women peace of mind and protect them from serious conditions that arise when societal taboos prevent them from seeking care.

Growing up in Turkey, I knew women who would avoid going to a gynecologist, even when they had an infection, to prevent their families from knowing they were sexually active. If I can help one person understand their condition at home without experiencing the stress of societal taboos, that’s something very dear to my heart.

Secondly, when I started this work, I realized how much we don’t know about women’s health. We have amazing and inspirational research, but not compared with the information we have for men. We’re treated as tiny men.

Starting with bacterial vaginosis, I hope to create a system wherein we can expand research in women’s health to better understand the female microbiome by bringing a “mini lab” into women’s houses with a liner and an app. It’s about engineering with empathy.