In this episode, we discuss a breakthrough from ETH Zurich to mimic natural foot signals to the brain using state of the art neuroprosthetics. 

Podcast: Neuroprosthetics: The Next Step Towards Limb Reconstruction

Robotic exoskeletons designed to help humans with walking or physically demanding work have been the stuff of sci-fi lore for decades. Remember <a href="https://youtu.be/jtVygtT8VIc" target="_blank">Ellen Ripley in that Power Loader in Alien</a>? Or the crazy mobile platform <a href="https://youtu.be/Z2OLmFw9wR8?si=hIsWKAiRYAWGWbpP&t=85" target="_blank">George McFly wore in 2015 in Back to the Future, Part II</a> because he threw his back out?Researchers are working on real-life robotic assistance that could protect workers from painful injuries and help stroke patients regain their mobility. So far, they have required extensive calibration and context-specific tuning, which keeps them largely limited to research labs.Mechanical engineers at Georgia Tech may be on the verge of changing that, allowing exoskeleton technology to be deployed in homes, workplaces, and more.A team of researchers in <a href="https://me.gatech.edu/faculty/young" target="_blank">Aaron Young’s</a> lab have developed a universal approach to controlling robotic exoskeletons that requires no training, no calibration, and no adjustments to complicated algorithms. Instead, users can don the “exo” and go.Their system uses a kind of artificial intelligence called deep learning to autonomously adjust how the exoskeleton provides assistance, and they’ve shown it works seamlessly to support walking, standing, and climbing stairs or ramps. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.adi8852" target="_blank">They described their “unified control framework” March 20 in Science Robotics.</a>“The goal was not just to provide control across different activities, but to create a single unified system. You don't have to press buttons to switch between modes or have some classifier algorithm that tries to predict that you're climbing stairs or walking,” said Young, associate professor in the <a href="https://me.gatech.edu/" target="_blank">George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering</a>.<h3>Machine Learning as Translator</h3><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1711697656575-_MG_8945.webp" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">A closeup view of experimental exoskeleton used in experiments that resulted in a universal controller for robotic assistance devices.Most previous work in this area has focused on one activity at a time, like walking on level ground or up a set of stairs. The algorithms involved typically try to classify the environment to provide the right assistance to users.The Georgia Tech team threw that out the window. Instead of focusing on the environment, they focused on the human — what’s happening with muscles and joints — which meant the specific activity didn’t matter.“We stopped trying to bucket human movement into what we call discretized modes — like level ground walking or climbing stairs&nbsp;— because real movement is a lot messier,” said Dean Molinaro, lead author on the study and a recently graduated Ph.D. student in Young’s lab. “Instead, we based our controller on the user’s underlying physiology. What the body is doing at any point in time will tell us everything we need to know about the environment. Then we used machine learning essentially as the translator between what the sensors are measuring on the exoskeleton and what torques the muscles are generating.”With the controller delivering assistance through a hip exoskeleton developed by the team, they found they could reduce users’ metabolic and biomechanical effort: they expended less energy, and their joints didn’t have to work as hard compared to not wearing the device at all.In other words, wearing the exoskeleton was a benefit to users, even with the extra weight added by the device itself.<blockquote>What’s so cool about this [controller] is that it adjusts to each person’s internal dynamics without any tuning or heuristic adjustments, which is a huge difference from a lot of work in the field. There’s no subject-specific tuning or changing parameters to make it work.AARON YOUNG Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering</blockquote><a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.adi8852" target="_blank">The control system in this study</a> is designed for partial-assist devices. These exoskeletons support movement rather than completely replacing the effort.The team, which also included Molinaro and <a href="https://www.meche.engineering.cmu.edu/directory/bios/kang-inseung.html" target="_blank">Inseung Kang</a>, another former Ph.D. student now at Carnegie Mellon University, used an existing algorithm and trained it on mountains of force and motion-capture data they collected in Young’s lab. Subjects of different genders and body types wore the powered hip exoskeleton and walked at varying speeds on force plates, climbed height-adjustable stairs, walked up and down ramps, and transitioned between those movements.And like the motion-capture studios used to make movies, every movement was recorded and cataloged to understand what joints were doing for each activity.The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.adi8852" target="_blank">Science Robotics study</a> is “application agnostic,” as Young put it. Yet their controller offers the first bridge to real-world viability for robotic exoskeleton devices.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1711697699313-_MG_8771.webp" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Researchers Aaron Young, left, and Dean Molinaro.Imagine how robotic assistance could benefit soldiers, airline baggage handlers, or any workers doing physically demanding jobs where musculoskeletal injury risk is high.Assistive robotics also could help stroke patients regain mobility. Related experiments in Young’s lab are working to understand how their hip exoskeleton and unified controller could be extended to help people recovering from stroke navigate their communities.<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VEvV1jnqacs?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe><h3 id="isPasted">Helping Amputees Do More</h3>Other projects in Young’s <a href="https://www.epic.gatech.edu/" target="_blank">Exoskeleton and Prosthetic Intelligent Controls (EPIC) Lab</a> are marrying the power of robotics and AI to help adults with above-the-knee amputations navigate more effectively and children recover from neurological injuries.For adults, the lab is imagining new powered prostheses to help them navigate the world. An active study is exploring how AI can learn a patient’s gait and adapt over time to improve walking.Stacey Rice has been working with the team for a year, testing iterations of a leg prosthesis and the accompanying AI controller. She lost her leg to bone cancer 44 years ago, so she’s already seen technology improve the devices available to amputees.&nbsp;The Atlanta native is a multisport athlete and 1988 volleyball Paralympian. She said she can feel a real difference in the amount of effort she expends using the robotic assistance. <blockquote>I realized while I was on the treadmill that I wasn’t using as much energy as if I was using my own prosthesis. For me to have that energy bank is huge. There’s so much energy the body uses when you’re an amputee and you’re walking. To reserve that energy for your day-to-day activities will allow amputees to be more active during the day and do more.STACEY RICE Amputee and Research Study Participant</blockquote><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1711697760246-_MG_8899.webp" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Dean Molinaro walks up a height-adjustable ramp, left, and similarly adjustable stairs, right, while wearing an experimental exoskeleton. The team used these and other unique tools Young's lab, such as force plates and motion-capture cameras, to collect data in their effort to develop a unified control framework for robotic assistance devices.<h3 id="isPasted">Gamifying Pediatric Rehab<a title="Permalink to this item" href="https://coe.gatech.edu/news/2024/03/universal-controller-could-push-robotic-prostheses-exoskeletons-real-world-use#gamifying-pediatric-rehab" target="_blank"></a></h3>In other experiments, Young’s lab is working with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Shriners Hospital to incorporate robotics into a new approach to pediatric rehabilitation that helps patients improve their gait.&nbsp;Kids with cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injuries, and other conditions often undergo physical therapy to help correct walking abnormalities. Incorporating robotics into the process is an area Young is excited about because developing brains are especially good at relearning skills and can recover function over time.“The robotic therapy does what a physical therapist might do manually, but in an automated way. It encourages them to adopt better gait biomechanics,” Young said.In each appointment, the researchers combine a robotic exoskeleton with biofeedback systems through a game-like interface.“When the patients come in, it’s like a video game that they're playing, which both engages them and gives them feedback about their performance,” Young said. “We want them to internalize the learning. The exoskeleton will help them physically achieve their goals, but we need them to retain that and engage in the rehab process.”<h3>Regaining Balance<a title="Permalink to this item" href="https://coe.gatech.edu/news/2024/03/universal-controller-could-push-robotic-prostheses-exoskeletons-real-world-use#regaining-balance" target="_blank"></a></h3>Elsewhere in the lab, Young and his team use a unique virtual-reality treadmill system to study gait and balance, particularly for older adults or people with mobility issues from strokes or amputations.The team uses the platform to introduce significant disruptions while participants are walking, challenging them to keep or regain their balance. The resulting data —&nbsp;largely from young, athletic individuals —&nbsp;is inspiring how wearable robots should operate to help people with balance impairments stay upright.In other words, it’s a busy place. And all in service of making a future of wearable robotics a reality.“For a lot of us, mobility is something we’re able to take for granted. One of the hopes is that this work can translate to people with mobility impairments and improve their quality of life,” Molinaro said. “And also, there are times when mobility is a limitation. So we’re interested in how we push the edge of mobility, both in restoring it for those with impairments but also augmenting it for those of able body to make them even more capable.”

Researcher Aaron Young makes adjustments to an experimental exoskeleton worn by then-Ph.D. student Dean Molinaro. The team used the exoskeleton to develop a unified control framework for robotic assistance devices that would allow users to put on an "exo" and go — no extensive training, tuning, or calibration required. (Photo: Candler Hobbs)

Aaron Young’s team has developed a wear-and-go approach that requires no calibration or training.

Universal Controller Could Push Robotic Prostheses, Exoskeletons Into Real-World Use

In this episode, we discuss how CalTech researchers have created bionic jellyfish to help us explore the oceans and better understand the impacts of climate change.

Podcast: Jellyfish Cyborgs Help Explore The Oceans & Solve Climate Change

This article was discussed in our <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Next Byte podcast</a>.&nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/b5ad041a-a5dc-42cd-900b-390dca184186?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe> The full article will continue below.<hr>A few years ago, a team of researchers working under Professor Stanisa Raspopovic at the ETH Zurich Neuroengineering Lab gained worldwide attention when they announced that their prosthetic legs had enabled amputees to feel sensations from this artificial body part for the first time. Unlike commercial leg prostheses, which simply provide amputees with stability and support, the ETH researchers’ prosthetic device was connected to the sciatic nerve in the test subjects’ thigh via implanted electrodes.This electrical connection enabled the neuroprosthesis to communicate with the patient’s brain, for example relaying information on the constant changes in pressure detected on the sole of the prosthetic foot when walking. This gave the test subjects greater confidence in their prosthesis – and it enabled them to walk considerably faster on challenging terrains. “Our experimental leg prosthesis succeeded in evoking natural sensations. That’s something current neuroprostheses are mainly unable to do; instead, they mostly evoke artificial, unpleasant sensations,” Raspopovic says.This is probably because today’s neuroprosthetics are using time-constant electrical pulses to stimulate the nervous system. “That’s not only unnatural, but also inefficient,” Raspopovic says. In a recently published paper, he and his team used the example of their leg prostheses to highlight the benefits of using naturally inspired, biomimetic stimulation to develop the next generation of neuroprosthetics.<h2>Model simulates activation of nerves in the sole</h2>To generate these biomimetic signals, Natalija Katic – a doctoral student in Raspopovic’s research group – developed a computer model called FootSim. It is based on data collected by collaborators in Canada, who recorded the activity of natural receptors, named mechanoreceptors, in the sole of the foot while touching different points on the feet of volunteers with a vibrating rod.The model simulates the dynamic behaviour of large numbers of mechanoreceptors in the sole of the foot and generates the neural signals that shoot up the nerves in the leg towards the brain – from the moment the heel strikes the ground and the weight of the body starts to shift forward to the outside of the foot until the toes push off the ground ready for the next step. “Thanks to this model, we can see how semsory receptors from the sole, and the connected nerves, behave during walking or running, which is experimentally impossible to measure” Katic says.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzA5ODI0NDc4NjY1LWltYWdlLmltYWdlZm9ybWF0LjEyODYuNDg4NzEzNzM4LmpwZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Restoring natural sensory feedback results in functional and cognitive benefits for leg prosthesis users. (Photograph: Pietro Comaschi)Restoring natural sensory feedback results in functional and cognitive benefits for leg prosthesis users.&nbsp;(Photograph: Pietro Comaschi)<h2 id="isPasted">Information overload in the spinal cord</h2>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;To assess how closely the biomimetic signals calculated by the model correspond to the signals emitted by real neurons, Giacomo Valle – a postdoc in Raspopovic’s research group – worked with colleagues in Germany, Serbia and Russia on experiments with cats, whose nervous system processes movement in a similar way to that of humans. The experiments took place in 2019 at the Pavlov Institute of Physiology in St. Petersburg and were carried out in accordance with the relevant European Union guidelines.The researchers implanted electrodes, connecting some to the nerve in the leg and some to the spinal cord to discover how the signals are transmitted through the nervous system. When the researchers applied pressure to the bottom of the cat’s paw, thereby evoking the natural neural response that occurs when a cat takes a step, the peculiar pattern of activity recorded in the spinal cord did indeed resemble the patterns that were elicited in the spinal cord when the researchers stimulated the leg nerve with biomimetic signals.By contrast, the conventional approach of time-constant stimulation of the sciatic nerve in the cat’s thigh elicited a markedly different pattern of activation in the spinal cord. “This clearly shows that the commonly used stimulation methods cause the neural networks in the spine to be flooded with information,” Valle says. “This information overload could be the reason for the unpleasant sensations or paraesthesia reported by some users of neuroprosthetics,” Raspopovic adds.<h2>Learning the language of the nervous system</h2>In their clinical trial with leg amputees, the researchers were able to show that biomimetic stimulation is superior to time-constant stimulation. Their work clearly demonstrated how the signals that mimicked nature produced better results: not only were the test subjects able to climb steps faster, they also made fewer mistakes in a task that required them to climb the same steps while spelling words backwards. “Biomimetic neurostimulation allows subjects to concentrate on other things while walking,” Raspopovic says, “so we concluded that this type of stimulation is more naturally processed and less taxing on the brain.”Raspopovic, whose lab forms part of the ETH Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, believes that these new findings are not only relevant to the limb prostheses he and his team have been working on for over half a decade. He argues that the need to move away from unnatural, time-constant stimulation towards biomimetic signals also applies to a whole series of other aids and devices, including spinal implants and electrodes for brain stimulation. “We need to learn the language of the nervous system,” Raspopovic says. “Then we’ll be able to communicate with the brain in ways it really understands.”<h2>Information overload in the spinal cord</h2>To assess how closely the biomimetic signals calculated by the model correspond to the signals emitted by real neurons, Giacomo Valle – a postdoc in Raspopovic’s research group – worked with colleagues in Germany, Serbia and Russia on experiments with cats, whose nervous system processes movement in a similar way to that of humans. The experiments took place in 2019 at the Pavlov Institute of Physiology in St. Petersburg and were carried out in accordance with the relevant European Union guidelines.The researchers implanted electrodes, connecting some to the nerve in the leg and some to the spinal cord to discover how the signals are transmitted through the nervous system. When the researchers applied pressure to the bottom of the cat’s paw, thereby evoking the natural neural response that occurs when a cat takes a step, the peculiar pattern of activity recorded in the spinal cord did indeed resemble the patterns that were elicited in the spinal cord when the researchers stimulated the leg nerve with biomimetic signals.By contrast, the conventional approach of time-constant stimulation of the sciatic nerve in the cat’s thigh elicited a markedly different pattern of activation in the spinal cord. “This clearly shows that the commonly used stimulation methods cause the neural networks in the spine to be flooded with information,” Valle says. “This information overload could be the reason for the unpleasant sensations or paraesthesia reported by some users of neuroprosthetics,” Raspopovic adds.<h2>Learning the language of the nervous system</h2>In their clinical trial with leg amputees, the researchers were able to show that biomimetic stimulation is superior to time-constant stimulation. Their work clearly demonstrated how the signals that mimicked nature produced better results: not only were the test subjects able to climb steps faster, they also made fewer mistakes in a task that required them to climb the same steps while spelling words backwards. “Biomimetic neurostimulation allows subjects to concentrate on other things while walking,” Raspopovic says, “so we concluded that this type of stimulation is more naturally processed and less taxing on the brain.”Raspopovic, whose lab forms part of the ETH Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, believes that these new findings are not only relevant to the limb prostheses he and his team have been working on for over half a decade. He argues that the need to move away from unnatural, time-constant stimulation towards biomimetic signals also applies to a whole series of other aids and devices, including spinal implants and electrodes for brain stimulation. “We need to learn the language of the nervous system,” Raspopovic says. “Then we’ll be able to communicate with the brain in ways it really understands.”<hr><h2 id="isPasted">Reference</h2>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;Valle G, Katic Secerovic N, Eggemann D, Gorskii O, Pavlova N, Petrini FM, Cvancara P, Stieglitz T, Musienko P, Bumbasirevic M, Raspopovic S: Biomimetic computer-to-brain communication enhancing naturalistic touch sensations via peripheral nerve stimulation. Nature Communications, 20 February 2024, doi: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45190-6" target="_blank">external page10.1038/s41467-024-45190-6</a>

ETH researchers have developed a prosthetic leg that communicates with the brain via natural signals. (Photograph: Keystone)

Prostheses that connect to the nervous system have been available for several years. Now, researchers at ETH Zurich have found evidence that neuroprosthetics work better when they use signals that are inspired by nature.

Bio-inspired neuroprosthetics: sending signals the brain can understand

Fat tissue holds the key to 3D printing layered living skin and potentially hair follicles, according to researchers who recently harnessed fat cells and supporting structures from clinically procured human tissue to precisely correct injuries in rats. The advancement could have implications for reconstructive facial surgery and even hair growth treatments for humans.&nbsp;The team’s findings published today (March 1) in&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bioactmat.2023.10.034" target="_blank">Bioactive Materials</a>. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted the team a patent in February for the bioprinting technology it developed and used in this study.&nbsp;“Reconstructive surgery to correct trauma to the face or head from injury or disease is usually imperfect, resulting in scarring or permanent hair loss,” said Ibrahim T. Ozbolat, professor of engineering science and mechanics, of biomedical engineering and of neurosurgery at Penn State, who led the international collaboration that conducted the work. “With this work, we demonstrate bioprinted, full thickness skin with the potential to grow hair in rats. That’s a step closer to being able to achieve more natural-looking and aesthetically pleasing head and face reconstruction in humans.”While scientists have previously 3D bioprinted thin layers of skin, Ozbolat and his team are the first to intraoperatively print a full, living system of multiple skin layers, including the bottom-most layer or hypodermis. Intraoperatively refers to the ability to print the tissue during surgery, meaning the approach may be used to more immediately and seamlessly repair damaged skin, the researchers said. The top layer — the epidermis that serves as visible skin — forms with support from the middle layer on its own, so it doesn’t require printing. The hypodermis, made of connective tissue and fat, provides structure and support over the skull.“The hypodermis is directly involved in the process by which stem cells become fat,” Ozbolat said. “This process is critical to several vital processes, including wound-healing. It also has a role in hair follicle cycling, specifically in facilitating hair growth.”The researchers started with human adipose, or fat, tissue obtained from patients undergoing surgery at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Collaborator Dino J. Ravnic, associate professor of surgery in the Division of Plastic Surgery at Penn State College of Medicine, led his lab in obtaining the fat for extraction of the extracellular matrix — the network of molecules and proteins that provides structure and stability to the tissue — to make one component of the bioink.Ravnic’s team also obtained stem cells, which have the potential to mature into several different cell types if provided the correct environment, from the adipose tissue to make another bioink component. Each component was loaded into one of three compartments in the bioprinter. The third compartment was filled with a clotting solution that helps the other components properly bind onto the injured site.“The three compartments allow us to co-print the matrix-fibrinogen mixture along with the stem cells with precise control,” Ozbolat said. “We printed directly into the injury site with the target of forming the hypodermis, which helps with wound healing, hair follicle generation, temperature regulation and more.”They achieved both the hypodermis and dermis layers, with the epidermis forming within two weeks by itself.“We conducted three sets of studies in rats to better understand the role of the adipose matrix, and we found the co-delivery of the matrix and stem cells was crucial to hypodermal formation,” Ozbolat said. “It doesn’t work effectively with just the cells or just the matrix — it has to be at the same time.”They also found that the hypodermis contained downgrowths, the initial stage of early hair follicle formation. According to the researchers, while fat cells do not directly contribute to the cellular structure of hair follicles, they are involved in their regulation and maintenance.“In our experiments, the fat cells may have altered the extracellular matrix to be more supportive for downgrowth formation,” Ozbolat said. “We are working to advance this, to mature the hair follicles with controlled density, directionality and growth.”According to Ozbolat, the ability to precisely grow hair in injured or diseased sites of trauma can limit how natural reconstructive surgery may appear. He said that this work offers a “hopeful path forward,” especially in combination with other projects from his lab involving printing bone and investigating how to match pigmentation across a range of skin tones.“We believe this could be applied in dermatology, hair transplants, and plastic and reconstructive surgeries — it could result in a far more aesthetic outcome,” Ozbolat said.“With the fully automated bioprinting ability and compatible materials at the clinical grade, this technology may have a significant impact on the clinical translation of precisely reconstructed skin.”Ravnic and Ozbolat also are affiliated with the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences and the Penn State Cancer Institute. Ozbolat has additional affiliations with the Penn State Materials Research Institute and the Department of Medical Oncology at Cukurova University in Turkey, where he is currently on sabbatical leave. Other contributors include Yogendra Pratap Singh, postdoctoral scholar, and Mecit Altan Alioglu, graduate student, both in the Penn State Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics; Youngnam Kang and Miji Yeo, both researchers, and Irem Deniz Derman, graduate student, in the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences; Yang Wu, Harbin Institute of Technology in China; and Jasson Makkar and Ryan R. Driskell, College of Veterinary Medicine at Washington State University. Kang, Yeo, Singh, Alioglu and Derman also are affiliated with Penn State Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics.

Miji Yeo, a postdoctoral researcher at Penn State, checks the bioink cartridges on a 3D printer developed to intraoperatively print layers of skin. Credit: Michelle Bixby/Penn State. All Rights Reserved.

Bioengineered advancement may have implications for more natural-looking reconstructive surgery outcomes, according to international research team

3D-printed skin closes wounds and contains hair follicle precursors

<h2 id="isPasted">What is silver/silver chloride ink?</h2>‍Silver/silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) is a conductive ink typically used to print electrodes for biomedical applications. It’s a non-toxic, environmentally friendly ink with stable electrochemical potential used to create disposable on-skin medical electrodes for biosensors, like "ECG, EEG and TENS electrodes; defibrillator pads; transdermal drug delivery; biomedical sensors and reference electrodes," according to <a href="https://www.creativematerials.com/products/ag-agcl-inks/" target="_blank">Creative Materials</a>.&nbsp;‍<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1709524616616-63d022dacfb6e86a1a3cf1c4_ffhgM2WgWmVRDuIv4GtMPtOgJnNsHrpU0DlhQb2hw9DhzCZ4C7IujXkmI6-Wb1oQkcFbDkFukxQI-6qOCSdGzc-RG3ihBfYeMomcrtZXFV6dX66qBWO6I56fjNV7IngcIVg4ZVpc3em72_ZUQ7XEEeOsDnoXYJ3UkXIu4GSpT1uTJ1njEsNQKtcxJaKNC.png" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Source: Henkel<h3 id="isPasted">Features:</h3><ul><li>Silver-to-silver chloride ratios can be adjusted and blended to achieve different resistance values and sensitivity levels.&nbsp;</li><li>The ink has a smooth surface finish with excellent adhesion and crease resistance when printed onto polyester and plastic substrates.&nbsp;</li><li>Silver/silver chloride is compatible with screen printing and direct-ink-writing printing technology.&nbsp;</li></ul><h2>Smart health patches</h2>‍Used in both healthcare and athletics applications, smart health patches deliver new capabilities in monitoring. These devices can continuously measure heart rate, brain activity, movement, and other body functions. <a href="https://www.quad-ind.com/smart-health-patches-to-run-smart/" target="_blank">Quad Industries’ Smart Health Patch</a>, designed to optimize training for ultra-runners, is made using Henkel’s silver/silver chloride ink.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1709524652661-63d022daa5cbee3ab018e3e7_8VgrqoubKIfwaL1zITpxMMjBjwZ0pwQdx2p_UCyq48yZIDh9jqqb281s3xO3BjQ7xTJO1oM0xUcUoKoQ6506xXmB2AnVlUENl_QzrSiBiDSWsE25qMLNrOtCmqt1c8hxKm-xZMRmZoxMabvNRQA6Udn9Q6RByf0cqbC_Dy22HfbQWYy4S7Tu8SvzcJjw9.png" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Source: Quad Industries<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1709524667591-63d022dac9c95f5daebb1936_7x7-GMmj24mLom3wqW-nHmMi9PeRUDPwS6Pv5tYsxw_QONplpV8Uyxc6qzd6FJCo3t4G_uNybUwFGiJohdDlYNlrqbXxN0Dv3g1kujpKAT8hPn5BLnvSYClXC0DZIMi8kvIL44HJyqEZwq3CgivP2w_SNr8UElf52dxJI3B_k1N1qiwnP6yNkXgmyRzOe.png" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><figure data-rt-type="image" data-rt-align="center" id="isPasted"><figcaption>Source: Quad Industries‍</figcaption></figure>‍Silver/silver chloride ink is also used to print glucose sensors for continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) patches like Freestyle Libre.CGM patches are being widely adopted for diabetes management. Rather than pricking a finger several times a day to monitor glucose levels, the CGM continuously measures glucose in the blood and interfaces with a reader device or smartphone app. This allows patients to monitor glucose levels throughout the day and refine the timing for their insulin injections.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1709524688181-63d022da3ae9a36f914066d5_hHSjbJgZWS36H1qokZ_5LN2coCJiIs7H9b7Uw6TUm0o7Qbss4LCqngtZB53W-wdG_sMiMR7KnUMKSRcuX3OhSHY_ngYl7SoPJEe1ZVD_LTrvMQfALXzmxpZAVSwQMxAkHLrVb_SZ0MxJqfYS9fmmN_cH8CSOwUOq1YLmYLEZqfyrDEwgtp1lhSBGSFLoV.png" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Source: Healthline<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1709524702228-63d022da3916c36e5646942d_QdXGhsRpN4wtDyT6VosSkgxf0n4hxX7QICaxkDGbyBOM1Ar0t7ehDpr8ZQoIHzbhKxWRzY8_0G1bBz20I3Yi61Pf0pI0vCZ-6Bd6a7TGwEZp6waSXE0_Ascb-h8PVZQsQcwqcIt5-SUFVGauo6chHPNjqTfZa3hUNWCJfkaXF0WyMdRWn0TQdMiYLySC.jpeg" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Source: Advanced Technologies and Polymer Materials for Surgical Sutures<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1709524715190-63d022dad7285c542dc110f7_YSW1DtYARgBxTI1OcJYkuL_bHjR4eAI01NARpWowdleL1PdML6EBfQ_ksZ3d9jS4o9G6m6beeDeroNPsSs1OxRiOhx7wZA7-ws935lrFJZpgSVoHFMf49r1TYDTgE-eP-sOOrhR3C15nlwi19GzLEiqP-VQNR-vhQo7fOW3MlwK5SiBN7Uh-ltI3qhHSP.png" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Source: HenkelIn recent years, CGMs also have become a tool for athletic performance. Endurance athletes use CGMs to monitor for dips in glucose during training, and then methodically dial in their fuel strategy and nutrition plan accordingly. The <a href="https://www.supersapiens.com/" target="_blank">Supersapiens</a> glucose monitoring system is being leveraged by athletes like Crossfit Games champion Samantha Briggs, olympic triathlon gold medalist Kristian Blummenfelt, and endurance obstacle course world champion Ryan Atkins.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1709524734463-63d022dabc5f8813d838b2d8_x7tSiD3dwvioNowEvZUasv-THGBtHupPy1ikaI29n8xyFH_LLcNtG0P3YC-ZncS2A82C9caDVwLeK1aHPlWYoN5ex_AI4YwzcVdOPMuK5d9AG7Os9XvLz1v68Xk56Uu_Q_DKjbceQ84tf8ZoTsFuLDn4GvyU6fWrkS92eL7nrIRSUA7ehMEgPfYecPW2F.png" style="width: 768px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Source: SupersapiensSilver/silver chloride ink can also be paired with TPU used to print stretchable interconnections for constructing <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6163896/" target="_blank">medical sensor textiles</a> and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00405175211005039" target="_blank">smart textile garments</a>. Commercialization has been limited due to lack of cost-effective, standard fabrication processes that can be applied to a large variety of fabrics, but companies like <a href="https://softmatter.io/" target="_blank">Softmatter</a> and <a href="https://www.memtronik.com/printed-electronics/smart-clothing/" target="_blank">Memtronik</a> now offer customized smart-garment design and fabrication.<hr><h2>I want this ink. Where do I start?</h2><h4>‍Henkel Adhesive Technologies</h4>If you work in the engineering world, you’re probably familiar with Loctite, a line of products by Henkel Adhesive Technologies. Loctite EDAG 7019 E&amp;C is a silver/silver chloride conductive ink, formulated to provide excellent adhesion to the wide variety of substrates used in the manufacture of electrically conductive medical devices.&nbsp;Read the datasheet here: <a href="https://tds.henkel.com/tds5/Studio/ShowPDF/?pid=EDAG%207019%20EC&format=MTR&subformat=HYS&language=EN&plant=WERCS&authorization=2" target="_blank">LOCTITE EDAG 7019 E&amp;C Technical Data Sheet </a>Henkel also sells a&nbsp;<a href="https://print-your-electronics-with-loctite.com/LOCTITE-SENSOR-DEMONSTRATOR" target="_blank">Loctite sensor demonstrator kit</a> with twelve dry adhesive electrodes for medical research and technical material validation. Henkel Adhesive Technologies have developed a wide portfolio of innovative solutions in adhesives, sealants, inks, and functional coatings.&nbsp;<h4>Dupont</h4>‍Another option is Dupont 5874 silver/silver chloride, which is designed for screen printing on polyester, and is suitable for a wide variety of biomedical applications. Dupont is an industry leader in materials development, combining scientific and applications development expertise to accelerate innovation. Read the datasheet here: <a href="https://www.dupont.com/content/dam/dupont/amer/us/en/mobility/public/documents/en/EI-10086-DuPont-5874-Ag_AgCI-Composition-Data-Sheet.pdf" target="_blank" data-lf-fd-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true">Dupont 5874 silver/silver chloride composition for screen printing</a><h4>Kayaku Advanced Materials‍</h4>Kayaku Advanced Materials also offers a silver/silver chloride conductive ink, designed for screen printing medical EEG and EKG sensors. Kayaku develops and manufactures innovative specialty materials to push the latest innovation trends. Read the datasheet here: <a href="https://kayakuam.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/agcl-675-silver-chloride-ink.pdf" target="_blank" data-lf-fd-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true">AGCL-675 SILVER/SILVER CHLORIDE INK&nbsp;</a>

‍Silver/silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) is a conductive ink typically used to print electrodes for biomedical applications.

Materials Feature: Silver or Silver Chloride Ink

This article was discussed in our <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Next Byte podcast</a>.&nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/18c9c9fd-d774-46bc-87b8-fb1b0e7a5ae4?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-gtm-yt-inspected-9="true" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe> The full article will continue below.<hr>Jellyfish can't do much besides swim, sting, eat, and breed. They don't even have brains. Yet, these simple creatures can easily journey to the depths of the oceans in a way that humans, despite all our sophistication, cannot.But what if humans could have jellyfish explore the oceans on our behalf, reporting back what they find? New research conducted at Caltech aims to make that a reality through the creation of what researchers call biohybrid robotic jellyfish. These creatures, which can be thought of as ocean-going cyborgs, augment jellyfish with electronics that enhance their swimming and a prosthetic "hat" that can carry a small payload while also making the jellyfish swim in a more streamlined manner.The work, published in the journal Bioinspiration &amp; Biomimetics, was conducted in the lab of John Dabiri (MS '03, PhD '05), the Centennial Professor of Aeronautics and Mechanical Engineering, and builds on his previous work augmenting jellyfish. Dabiri's goal with this research is to use jellyfish as robotic data-gatherers, sending them into the oceans to collect information about temperature, salinity, and oxygen levels, all of which are affected by Earth's changing climate."It's well known that the ocean is critical for determining our present and future climate on land, and yet, we still know surprisingly little about the ocean, especially away from the surface," Dabiri says. "Our goal is to finally move that needle by taking an unconventional approach inspired by one of the few animals that already successfully explores the entire ocean."<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_ZfthP_7s5g?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-gtm-yt-inspected-9="true" id="779481107" title="Robotic Jellyfish Explorers">&nbsp;</iframe>Media assets: Robotic Jellyfish ExplorersThroughout his career, Dabiri has looked to the natural world, jellyfish included, for inspiration in solving engineering challenges. This work began with early attempts by Dabiri's lab to develop a mechanical robot that swam like jellyfish, which have the most efficient method for traveling through water of any living creature. Though his research team succeeded in creating such a robot, that robot was never able to swim as efficiently as a real jellyfish. At that point, Dabiri asked himself, why not just work with jellyfish themselves?"Jellyfish are the original ocean explorers, reaching its deepest corners and thriving just as well in tropical or polar waters," Dabiri says. "Since they don't have a brain or the ability to sense pain, we've been able to collaborate with bioethicists to develop this biohybrid robotic application in a way that's ethically principled."Previously, Dabiri's lab implanted jellyfish with a kind of electronic pacemaker that controls the speed at which they swim. In doing so, they found that if they made jellyfish swim faster than the leisurely pace they normally keep, the animals became even more efficient. A jellyfish swimming three times faster than it normally would uses only twice as much energy.This time, the research team went a step further, adding what they call a forebody to the jellies. These forebodies are like hats that sit atop the jellyfish's bell (the mushroom-shaped part of the animal). The devices were designed by graduate student and lead author Simon Anuszczyk (MS '22), who aimed to make the jellyfish more streamlined while also providing a place where sensors and other electronics can be carried."Much like the pointed end of an arrow, we designed 3D-printed forebodies to streamline the bell of the jellyfish robot, reduce drag, and increase swimming performance," Anuszczyk says. "At the same time, we experimented with 3D printing until we were able to carefully balance the buoyancy and keep the jellyfish swimming vertically."To test the augmented jellies' swimming abilities, Dabiri's lab undertook the construction of a massive vertical aquarium inside Caltech's Guggenheim Laboratory. Dabiri explains that the three-story tank is tall, rather than wide, because researchers want to gather data on oceanic conditions far below the surface."In the ocean, the round trip from the surface down to several thousand meters will take a few days for the jellyfish, so we wanted to develop a facility to study that process in the lab," Dabiri says. "Our vertical tank lets the animals swim against a flowing vertical current, like a treadmill for swimmers. We expect the unique scale of the facility—probably the first vertical water treadmill of its kind—to be useful for a variety of other basic and applied research questions."<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzA5NTIxNzc5NzI4LURhYmlyaS1MYWItTG9uZy1EaXN0YW5jZS1Td2ltbWluZ19Gb3JlYm9keTMubWF4LTE0MDB4ODAwLmpwZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">A biohybrid jellyfish descends through the three-story tank in which swimming tests were conducted. Credit: CaltechSwim tests conducted in the tank show that a jellyfish equipped with a combination of the swimming pacemaker and forebody can swim up to 4.5 times faster than an all-natural jelly while carrying a payload. The total cost is about $20 per jellyfish, Dabiri says, which makes biohybrid jellies an attractive alternative to renting a research vessel that can cost more than $50,000 a day to run."By using the jellyfish's natural capacity to withstand extreme pressures in the deep ocean and their ability to power themselves by feeding, our engineering challenge is a lot more manageable," Dabiri adds. "We still need to design the sensor package to withstand the same crushing pressures, but that device is smaller than a softball, making it much easier to design than a full submarine vehicle operating at those depths."I'm really excited to see what we can learn by simply observing these parts of the ocean for the very first time," he adds.Dabiri says future work may focus on further enhancing the bionic jellies' abilities. Right now, they can only be made to swim faster in a straight line, such as the vertical paths being designed for deep ocean measurement. But further research may also make them steerable, so they can be directed horizontally as well as vertically.The paper describing the work, "<a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-3190/ad277f" target="_blank">Electromechanical enhancement of live jellyfish for ocean exploration</a>," appears in the February 28 issue of Bioinspiration &amp; Biomimetics. Co-authors are Anuszczyk and Dabiri.

Jellyfish can't do much besides swim, sting, eat, and breed. They don't even have brains. Yet, these simple creatures can easily journey to the depths of the oceans in a way that humans, despite all our sophistication, cannot.

Building Bionic Jellyfish for Ocean Exploration

A robot mimics the folded look of rose petals to grasp complex shapes more easily than a traditional hand. A pneumatic clamp makes it easier for people with motor disabilities to safely wield kitchen knives. Prostheses utilize shape memory polymers to better replicate the range of motion of a limb.All three of these concepts fall under the category of “soft robotics,” a field that uses strings, magnets, air, water and other non-rigid elements to design robotic solutions for biomechanical or industrial challenges.The Soft Robotics Toolkit (SRT), developed by the&nbsp;<a href="http://biodesign.seas.harvard.edu/" target="_blank">Harvard Biodesign Lab</a> at the&nbsp;<a href="https://seas.harvard.edu/" target="_blank">Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences</a> (SEAS), aims to provide a platform for designers, researchers and students to share information and resources in the field. Led by Conor Walsh, Paul A. Maeder Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences at SEAS, the group recently resumed the SRT Competition, which challenged teams to design, fabricate and present their soft robotic innovations. The competition ran annually from 2015-18, then returned as a virtual showcase this year.“We have a new team at the SRT, and with that team comes new excitement and eagerness to continue to provide useful and engaging content to our audience,” said Jesse Grupper, a mechanical engineering research fellow in the Harvard Biodesign Lab and member of the&nbsp;<a href="https://softroboticstoolkit.com/" target="_blank">SRT team</a>. “We want to continue to benefit our SRT community and felt like now was the time to show that we are still committed and want to continue to see growth in the field.”Thirty-five teams from around the world competed in Open, College and High School categories of the SRT Competition. Projects were judged based on innovation, implementation, and documentation, with cash prizes awarded to the top designs in each category.“Sharing these novel projects on our site garners the interest of other researchers, encourages beginners in the field to join the community, and excites members to continue to contribute their own projects,” Grupper said. “Overall, the SRT Competition enables more people to become involved with the community which further pushes the boundaries of the field as a whole.”<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/E1wAI09LaoY?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe>ROSE: Torsional Robotic Soft Gripper (Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology )First place in the Open category went to ROSE, a torsional soft robotic gripper designed at the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. The funnel-shaped gripper folds around and encompasses objects, enabling the soft membrane to grasp and hold complex, small or slippery objects. The Open runner-up prize went to a team from Northeastern University, which designed a series of pneumatically actuated origami robots that can support the weight of a human being.<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/H6yJK9ToCL8?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe>Dual-Mode Soft Robotics for Enhancing Kitchen Independence for Fine Motor Disabilities (Barker College in Hornsby, Australia)In the College category, a team from Barker College in Australia designed a pair of soft grippers for use in the kitchen. When actuated, the devices hold or clamp vegetables in place, making it easier for a person with motor challenges to chop or cut them. Runner-up went to a soft robotic hand designed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3nRMOhhcFqM?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe>4D Prosthetic (Quarry Lane School)A team from Quarry Lane School in California won the High School category with its 4D Prosthetic. The device uses shape memory polymers to simulate complex motions such as fingers gripping an object. The polymers hold their shape until exposed to heat such as a hot water bath, at which point they can be reshaped into a new position.“The SRT Team has undergone a lot of changes in the last five years,” Grupper said. “While our staff has shifted, and some of our objectives have changed, we've always been dedicated to expanding the field, and fostering an inclusive space for those that want to join our community.”

A robot mimics the folded look of rose petals to grasp complex shapes more easily than a traditional hand. A pneumatic clamp makes it easier for people with motor disabilities to safely wield kitchen knives. Prostheses utilize shape memory polymers to better replicate the range of motion of a limb.

A world of soft robotics

In this episode, we talk about a new AI designed catheter that is 100x safer than and how it came to be after a passive conversation about fun facts between two researchers.

Podcast: AI Makes Catheters 100 Times Safer

“Soft robots,” medical devices and implants, and next-generation drug delivery methods could soon be guided with magnetism—thanks to a metal-free magnetic gel developed by researchers at the University of Michigan and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, Germany.The material is the first in which carbon-based, magnetic molecules are chemically bonded to the molecular network of a gel, creating a flexible, long-lived magnet for soft robotics. The study describing the material was published today in the journal Matter.Creating robots from flexible materials allows them to <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7527653" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">contort</a> in unique ways, <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2209819119" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">handle delicate objects</a> and explore places that other robots cannot. More rigid robots would be crushed by the<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-03153-z" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;deep ocean’s pressure</a> or could damage sensitive tissues in <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/scirobotics.abc8191?casa_token=hqd5r3mI-VQAAAAA%3AJVE7YGtecWNWrACNynbQVLZfQCkJE6ngbzcmRnFo7u2Lb2K2oD6suzJvchvjpYa0zj9w4VBjykjmwQ" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the human body</a>, for example.“If you make robots soft, you need to come up with new ways to give them power and make them move so that they can do work,” said <a href="https://mse.engin.umich.edu/people/abdon" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Abdon Pena-Francesch</a>, assistant professor of materials science and engineering affiliated with the Robotics Institute at the University of Michigan and a corresponding author of the study.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1706103853343-Precursor-material-1.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Pena-Francesch holds the soft gel before it is treated with chemicals that give the material its magnetic properties. The colorless precursor can be molded into a variety of shapes—such as capsules that could one day be ingested to deliver medicine. Photo credit: Brenda Ahearn, Michigan Engineering.Today’s prototypes typically move with hydraulics or mechanical wires, which require the robot to be tethered to a power source or controller, also limiting where they can go. Magnets could unleash these robots, enabling them to be moved by magnetic fields.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1706103920253-TEMPO_structure.png" style="width: 740px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The chemical structure of the organic magnet. Brown lines and black nodes show the general layout of the “cross-linking molecules” that serve as the frame for the gel’s molecular structure and a cage for the TEMPO molecules (shown in red). The TEMPO molecules are bonded directly to the gel structure. Free electrons on the TEMPO oxygen atoms (shown as dots) give the material its magnetic properties. Image credit: Abdon Pena-Francesch, BioInspired Materials Lab, University of Michigan.Conventional, metallic magnets introduce their own complications, however. They could reduce the flexibility of soft robots and be too <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jab.770060110" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">toxic</a> for some medical applications.The new gel could be a nontoxic alternative for medical operations, and further modifications to the magnet’s chemical structure could help it degrade in the environment and human body. Such biodegradable magnets could be used in capsules that are guided to targeted locations of the body to release medicine.“If these materials can safely degrade in your body, you don’t have to retrieve them with another surgery later,” Pena-Francesch said. “This is still pretty exploratory, but these materials could enable newer, cheaper medical operations some day.”The team’s gel consists solely of carbon-based molecules. The key ingredient is TEMPO, a molecule with a “free” electron that is not paired up with another electron inside an atomic bond. The spin of every unpaired TEMPO electron in the gel aligns under a magnetic field, which attracts the gel to other magnetic materials.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1706103947442-BlockM.jpg" style="width: 594px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The magnetic gel can be carved and molded into a variety of shapes, including the University of Michigan block M. Photo credit: Abdon Pena-Francesch, BioInspired Materials Lab, University of Michigan.Additional “cross-linking molecules” in the gel act like a frame that connects the TEMPO molecules to a solid network structure while forming a protective cage around the TEMPO electrons. That cage prevents the unpaired electrons from forming bonds, which would remove the gel’s magnetic properties.“Earlier studies soaked these small, magnetic molecules into a gel, but they could leak out of the gel,” said Zane Zhang, a doctoral student in materials science and engineering and co-author of the study. “By integrating the magnetic molecules into the cross-linked gel network, they are fixed inside.”Locking the TEMPO molecules inside the material ensures that the gel does not leak potentially harmful TEMPO molecules into the body and allows the material to retain its magnetic properties for more than a year.While weaker than metallic magnets, the TEMPO magnets are strong enough to be pulled and bent with another magnet. Their weaker magnetism also has some upsides—TEMPO magnets can be photographed by an MRI, unlike stronger magnets that can&nbsp;<a href="https://med.stanford.edu/bmrgroup/Research/mri-near-metal.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">distort MRI images</a> to the point of uselessness.“Medical devices using our magnets could be used to deliver drugs to target locations and measure tissue adhesion and mechanics in the GI tract under MRI imaging,” said Metin Sitti, former director of the Physical Intelligence Department at Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and a corresponding author of the study.<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NTAWzVN5pNg?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-gtm-yt-inspected-9="true" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe>Designing Non-Metallic Squishy Magnets to Power Soft Robots

Strong enough to move soft robots and medical capsules, weak enough to not ruin MRI images

Squishy, metal-free magnets to power robots and guide medical implants

MIT engineers have developed a robotic replica of the heart’s right ventricle, which mimics the beating and blood-pumping action of live hearts.The robo-ventricle combines real heart tissue with synthetic, balloon-like artificial muscles that enable scientists to control the ventricle’s contractions while observing how its natural valves and other intricate structures function.The artificial ventricle can be tuned to mimic healthy and diseased states. The team manipulated the model to simulate conditions of right ventricular dysfunction, including pulmonary hypertension and myocardial infarction. They also used the model to test cardiac devices. For instance, the team implanted a mechanical valve to repair a natural malfunctioning valve, then observed how the ventricle’s pumping changed in response.They say the new robotic right ventricle, or RRV, can be used as a realistic platform to study right ventricle disorders and test devices and therapies aimed at treating those disorders.“The right ventricle is particularly susceptible to dysfunction in intensive care unit settings, especially in patients on mechanical ventilation,” says Manisha Singh, a postdoc at MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES). “The RRV simulator can be used in the future to study the effects of mechanical ventilation on the right ventricle and to develop strategies to prevent right heart failure in these vulnerable patients.”Singh and her colleagues report details of the new design in an open-access&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s44161-023-00387-8" target="_blank">paper appearing today in&nbsp;Nature Cardiovascular Research</a>. Her co-authors include Associate Professor Ellen Roche, who is a core member of IMES and the associate head for research in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT; along with Jean Bonnemain, Caglar Ozturk, Clara Park, Diego Quevedo-Moreno, Meagan Rowlett, and Yiling Fan of MIT; Brian Ayers of Massachusetts General Hospital; Christopher Nguyen of Cleveland Clinic; and Mossab Saeed of Boston Children’s Hospital.<h2>A ballet of beats</h2>The right ventricle is one of the heart’s four chambers, along with the left ventricle and the left and right atria. Of the four chambers, the left ventricle is the heavy lifter, as its thick, cone-shaped musculature is built for pumping blood through the entire body. The right ventricle, Roche says, is a “ballerina” in comparison, as it handles a lighter though no-less-crucial load.“The right ventricle pumps deoxygenated blood to the lungs, so it doesn’t have to pump as hard,” Roche notes. “It’s a thinner muscle, with more complex architecture and motion.”This anatomical complexity has made it difficult for clinicians to accurately observe and assess right ventricle function in patients with heart disease.“Conventional tools often fail to capture the intricate mechanics and dynamics of the right ventricle, leading to potential misdiagnoses and inadequate treatment strategies,” Singh says.To improve understanding of the lesser-known chamber and speed the development of cardiac devices to treat its dysfunction, the team designed a realistic, functional model of the right ventricle that both captures its anatomical intricacies and reproduces its pumping function. &nbsp;The model includes real heart tissue, which the team chose to incorporate because it retains natural structures that are too complex to reproduce synthetically.“There are thin, tiny chordae and valve leaflets with different material properties that are all moving in concert with the ventricle’s muscle. Trying to cast or print these very delicate structures is quite challenging,” Roche explains.<h2>A heart’s shelf-life</h2>In the new study, the team reports explanting a pig’s right ventricle, which they treated to carefully preserve its internal structures. They then fit a silicone wrapping around it, which acted as a soft, synthetic myocardium, or muscular lining. Within this lining, the team embedded several long, balloon-like tubes, which encircled the real heart tissue, in positions that the team determined through computational modeling to be optimal for reproducing the ventricle’s contractions. The researchers connected each tube to a control system, which they then set to inflate and deflate each tube at rates that mimicked the heart’s real rhythm and motion.To test its pumping ability, the team infused the model with a liquid similar in viscosity to blood. This particular liquid was also transparent, allowing the engineers to observe with an internal camera how internal valves and structures responded as the ventricle pumped liquid through.They found that the artificial ventricle’s pumping power and the function of its internal structures were similar to what they previously observed in live, healthy animals, demonstrating that the model can realistically simulate the right ventricle’s action and anatomy. The researchers could also tune the frequency and power of the pumping tubes to mimic various cardiac conditions, such as irregular heartbeats, muscle weakening, and hypertension.“We’re reanimating the heart, in some sense, and in a way that we can study and potentially treat its dysfunction,” Roche says.To show that the artificial ventricle can be used to test cardiac devices, the team surgically implanted ring-like medical devices of various sizes to repair the chamber’s tricuspid valve — a leafy, one-way valve that lets blood into the right ventricle. When this valve is leaky, or physically compromised, it can cause right heart failure or atrial fibrillation, and leads to symptoms such as reduced exercise capacity, swelling of the legs and abdomen, and liver enlargement.The researchers surgically manipulated the robo-ventricle’s valve to simulate this condition, then either replaced it by implanting a mechanical valve or repaired it using ring-like devices of different sizes. They observed which device improved the ventricle’s fluid flow as it continued to pump.“With its ability to accurately replicate tricuspid valve dysfunction, the RRV serves as an ideal training ground for surgeons and interventional cardiologists,” Singh says. “They can practice new surgical techniques for repairing or replacing the tricuspid valve on our model before performing them on actual patients.”Currently, the RRV can simulate realistic function over a few months. The team is working to extend that performance and enable the model to run continuously for longer stretches. They are also working with designers of implantable devices to test their prototypes on the artificial ventricle and possibly speed their path to patients. And looking far in the future, Roche plans to pair the RRV with a similar artificial, functional model of the left ventricle, which the group is currently fine-tuning.“We envision pairing this with the left ventricle to make a fully tunable, artificial heart, that could potentially function in people,” Roche says. “We’re quite a while off, but that’s the overarching vision.”This research was supported, in part, by the National Science Foundation.

A new bio-robotic model developed by MIT engineers simulates the function of the heart’s lesser-known right ventricle (illustrated here in cross-section, as seen from a front view, on the left). Soft, balloon-like “muscles” (in blue) wrap around and contract the ventricle, mimicking its real pumping action. The model could help to test new implants and devices to treat a range of cardiac disorders. Credit: Courtesy of the researchers

The realistic model could aid the development of better heart implants and shed light on understudied heart disorders.

MIT engineers design a robotic replica of the heart's right chamber

<h2 dir="ltr" id="isPasted">FDA's Approach to Digital Health Solutions</h2>The United states Food and Drug Administration (FDA) strategy towards digital health solutions is function-based, focusing on the device's functions rather than hardware or software components. This approach allows for a more flexible and efficient regulatory process.Digital therapeutics are categorized as either class one or class two medical devices, depending on the level of risk they pose. They often follow a 510K pathway for approval, streamlining the process compared to traditional hardware-based medical devices. The speed of clearance through this pathway depends on the intended use and the risk to the patient.The FDA assesses digital health products based on the risk level to the patient, irrespective of whether the product is software or hardware. This risk-based categorization ensures that the appropriate approval pathway is applied.The Digital Medicine Society (DiMe) has developed resources to aid entrepreneurs and engineers in digital therapeutics companies. These resources include an interactive tool and flow chart that consolidate over 30 guidances and multiple policies, simplifying the navigation through regulatory landscapes.Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) algorithms are increasingly being utilized in digital therapeutics, extending beyond radiology to the prevention and management of diseases. These technologies are proving to be crucial in enhancing efficiencies and clinical applications across the healthcare sector.<h3 dir="ltr">Innovations in Medical AI</h3>A notable example of innovation in medical AI is Caption Health's cardiac AI software, which was the first of its kind to be granted approval early this year. This breakthrough demonstrates the significant potential for innovation and evolution in the field of medical AI.In conclusion, the podcast with Dr. Smit Patel offered valuable insights into the dynamic world of digital therapeutics. It underscored the importance of regulatory adaptability, the growing role of AI and ML in healthcare, and the resources available to those venturing into this promising field.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/the-tech-between-us-podcast-the-rise-of-digital-therapeutics/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Listen to part 1 here. </a>

In part II of the Mouser podcast episode, Dr. Smit Patel continued discussing the evolving landscape of digital therapeutics and its impact on healthcare highlighting several key insights into how digital solutions are reshaping medical treatments and the regulatory environment surrounding them.

The Tech Between Us Podcast: The Rise of Digital Therapeutics Part II.

<section id="isPasted">The first glucose self-monitoring system created in 1970 weighed three pounds, was initially designed only for physicians’ offices and needed a large drop of blood for a reading. Over 50 years later, researchers at Texas A&amp;M University are working to create a fully injectable continuous glucose monitor (CGM) so small it rivals a grain of rice and can be used with an external optical reader to measure sugar levels at any given time.While CGMs have advanced over the last 25 years, current models can still be a nuisance to the user and the required upkeep may discourage use. To address this issue, two faculty members from the Department of Biomedical Engineering have received a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to fund a multidisciplinary project to develop an injectable, grain-of-rice-sized glucose biosensor and wearable device enabling user-friendly, minimally-invasive continuous monitoring.“CGMs are commercially available, but most of them are indwelling, meaning there is a needle in the skin connected to a patch on the arm,” co-principal investigator and Regents Professor Dr. Gerard Coté said. “There is one CGM that is totally implantable, but it is much bigger than ours and requires a doctor to surgically implant it with an incision.”The NSF grant is backed by the biosensing program, a part of the engineering biology and health cluster of the NSF Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (CBET) Division. The division aims to support trailblazing research and education in these areas.<h2>Using autofluorescence to read blood sugar&nbsp;</h2>Coté and his lab are designing the injected sensor’s chemistry and developing the watch-type reader device. The sensor is put under the skin and analyzed using light from the watch-like device to determine the glucose concentration. The reader sends the signal to a cell phone and the patient can share the results with their health provider.“The chemical assay in the injectable sensor is used to determine the concentration of the glucose within the tissue, and the watch device sends in light and measures the fluorescence from the sensor to give the sugar concentration,” Coté said.Aside from its unique size and injectability, the sensor and wearable reader employ an optical sensing technology that addresses the challenges associated with biosensing for populations of darker skin tones.&nbsp;“We use chemistry that has a fluorescent color that emits in the red and infrared range rather than green light, which works better for the darker skin tones,” Coté said.</section><section><h2>Protecting the sensor</h2>Co-principal investigator Dr. Melissa Grunlan, Charles H. and Bettye Barclay Professor in Engineering, is working with her lab to wrap the sensing chemistry in a membrane that makes it more compatible within the body.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1701821831800-BMEN-news-biosensor-sleeve-16Nov2023.jpg" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The size and injectability of the biosensor makes for a less invasive method of monitoring blood glucose. | Image:&nbsp;<cite id="isPasted">Courtesy of Dr. Melissa Grunlan</cite>“When you implant something, the body thinks, ‘This does not belong here,’ and it tries to seal it off,” Grunlan said. “When that happens, that sensor can't work because there's no glucose getting into it. Our membrane is a hydrogel, similar to the material used for contact lenses, but this is a special hydrogel that is thermoresponsive.”The thermoresponsive nature allows the sensor to sit subtly in the body. The surface actively swells and shrinks just enough to keep cells and proteins from sticking to the sensor and forming obstructive scar tissue around it.Grunlan and Coté recently had a patent issued on the membrane technology and are considering different devices it could be used with, particularly to sustain the lifetime of medical devices.“The membrane could be applied to assorted devices that are prone to adhesion processes in the body,” Grunlan said. “It could be used on maybe a catheter to prevent thrombosis and infection by preventing the accumulation of proteins, cells, and organisms.”<h2>Multidisciplinary research in biomedical engineering</h2>The project culminates nearly two decades of research and collaboration between Coté’s biosensing expertise and Grunlan’s biomaterial expertise.“Working together as a team with complementary expertise is the key to developing complicated technologies such as this one,” Coté said. “Being able to collaborate with an expert like Dr. Grunlan in designing and developing biocompatible materials and bringing our experience in optical biosensor design is needed and gives us hope for success.”Although the grant is new funding, Grunlan and Coté have been preparing for this stage of their project for some time now and feel confident in the device’s outcome.“Dr. Coté and I have done extensive research in the past together that has led up to this study and this particular grant,” Grunlan said. “We've done some preclinical studies to assess the membrane's biocompatibility. He's done extensive work developing the sensing chemistry. What’s great about this grant is now we can prove our idea, and we’re in a really good position to do that.”</section>

Researchers receive funding to develop injectable grain-of-rice-sized continuous glucose monitor technology.

Miniature Device Offers Peace of Mind for Diabetics

Cell-based therapies, which use biological cells to treat diseases or injuries in the body, offer enormous potential from facilitating drug delivery to enabling more effective treatment of obesity, diabetes, and cancer. Generating on-site oxygen is a critical component of activating such therapies, because there is a high metabolic demand on these densely packed cells, and maintaining cell potency becomes a challenge, due to factors like immune response and dissolved oxygen. As part of an ongoing, multidisciplinary collaboration, a group of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, Northwestern University, Georgia Institute of Technology and Rice University have identified a novel device that makes on-site oxygen for biological cells transplanted inside the body.Every cell is closely situated to tiny blood capillaries due to its need of sufficient oxygen supply to function. Current approaches to generating on-site oxygen for cell-based therapies have drawbacks including size and supply capacity. Some options introduce gaseous oxygen from outside the body to tackle the problem but are bulky; others are limited by supply capacity, like a can of water that cannot be refilled once it’s been emptied. This new device boasts a compact footprint and relies on the abundance of water in the human body, making it an excellent choice for implantation, along with ensuring a sustainable and lasting source of oxygen.<blockquote>Our device uses electricity and water to make oxygen for the cells—it’s as simple as a Chemistry 101 electrolysis experiment we all did as children, but we’re conducting it in a smarter manner.<cite>Tzahi Cohen-KarniProfessor , <cite id="isPasted">Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering</cite> </cite></blockquote>“Our device uses electricity and water to make oxygen for the cells—it’s as simple as a Chemistry 101 electrolysis experiment we all did as children, but we’re conducting it in a smarter manner,” said <a href="https://engineering.cmu.edu/directory/bios/cohen-karni-tzahi.html" target="_blank">Tzahi Cohen-Karni</a>, professor of <a href="https://www.cmu.edu/bme/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">biomedical engineeringOpens in new window</a> and <a href="https://www.mse.engineering.cmu.edu//index.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">materials science and engineeringOpens in new window</a> at Carnegie Mellon University. “We are using unique materials, including iridium oxide to produce oxygen, while avoiding the production of harmful byproducts, such as chlorine or excess hydrogen peroxide. By controlling how much electricity our device uses, we can change how much oxygen it produces.”The biggest advantage and differentiator of the group’s research, recently published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-42697-2" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Nature CommunicationsOpens in new window</a>, is that it bridges the gap between energy science, biomedical engineering, and electronics. Water splitting research, which is geared toward energy conversion and storage, guided exploration of which materials could safely be used for oxygen evolution reaction in the human body, which led to the group incorporating iridium oxide.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1700813771065-1109-em-boosting-oxygenation-1.png" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">A schematic illustration of electrocatalytic on-site oxygenation. Source:&nbsp;Tzahi Cohen-Karni lab (CMU Engineering)“Unlike other approaches out there, we are using electrocatalysis, to reduce the energetic cost to generate the oxygen, and we are also tailoring the conditions of our device to provide oxygen without any byproducts, such as bleach,” added Inkyu Lee, materials science and engineering Ph.D. student. “We are also operating our device under conditions that will allow oxygen generation without bubbles that can disrupt the device.”The cells in this study were biologically engineered to produce human leptin, a key component in the body’s mechanism for weight control and regulation of circadian rhythms, which is also being investigated by the group through the <a href="https://engineering.cmu.edu/news-events/news/2021/06/07-circadian-clocks.html" target="_blank">DARPA Normalizing Timing of Rhythms Across Internal Networks of Circadian Clocks (NTRAIN) project</a>. The NTRAIN effort is managed by Jonathan Rivnay from Northwestern University.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1700813803284-1109-em-boosting-oxygenation-2.png" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">A representative set of 3D-rendered immunofluorescence images after 21 days in vitro oxygenation.&nbsp;Source:&nbsp;Tzahi Cohen-Karni lab (CMU Engineering)Additionally, some aspects of this published work will be used in the ARPA-H funded&nbsp;<a href="https://engineering.cmu.edu/news-events/news/2023/09/26-cancer-implant-tech.html" target="_blank">Targeted Hybrid Oncotherapeutic Regulation (THOR) project</a>, which is combining the group’s expertise in an effort to develop sense-and-respond technology to treat ovarian, pancreatic and other difficult-to-treat cancers. The THOR projects is managed by Omid Veiseh from Rice University.“We are the pioneers of this electrocatalytic oxygenation technology, and we have concrete plans to translate our devices to clinical practices in the real world,” emphasized Cohen-Karni. “We are not focusing on only one disease but instead, pushing to translate our work to various disease models.”As this work moves forward, the team is concentrating on perfecting highly stable materials that can operate for months in the body and plan to deploy their cutting-edge approaches to treat chronic diseases.The effort was co-led by Tzahi Cohen-Karni (MSE/BME, CMU) and Jonathan Rivanay (NU) and researchers Inkyu Lee (MSE, CMU) and Abhijith Surendran (NU). Other Carnegie Mellon participants involved in the research were Douglas Weber, professor of mechanical engineering; Adam Feinberg, professor of biomedical engineering; Sharon John, research associate; Seonghan Jo and Yingqiao Wang, materials science and engineering Ph.D. students; Tim Schwartzkopff, chemical engineering Ph.D. student; Omar El-Refy, physics Ph.D. student; and Ian Gimino, chemical engineering undergraduate student.

To advance cell-based therapies, researchers have identified a novel device that makes on-site oxygen for biological cells transplanted inside the body.

Boosting oxygenation for transplanted cell-based therapies

Synthetic biology holds the promise of enhancing and modifying biological systems into innumerable new technologies for the benefit of society. This engineering approach to biology has already reaped benefits in the fields of drug delivery, agriculture, and energy production. In a paper published in Nature Chemical Biology, EPFL researchers at the Laboratory of Protein Design and Immunoengineering (<a href="https://www.epfl.ch/labs/lpdi/" target="_blank">LPDI</a>) at the School of Engineering have taken an important step in designing more performative biological systems. By observing complex self-regulating behavior in cells and taking inspiration from electrical engineering, they have engineered a sophisticated biological switch using modified proteins as the hardware.<blockquote>We use a number of approaches in terms of protein design, more specifically computational protein design, in order to engineer new molecular hardware.<footer>Professor Bruno Correia, head of LPDI</footer></blockquote>The goal of LPDI is to develop biological functions that imitate and even go beyond what nature has provided over millions of years of evolution. “We use a number of approaches in terms of protein design, more specifically computational protein design, in order to engineer new molecular hardware,” says Bruno Correia, head of LPDI and lead author the paper. This new biological hardware—in the form of engineered proteins—can then be placed in living cells and respond to stimuli that the engineer can closely control.The lab’s methodology begins by observing how cells function and imitating or adapting these functions for other uses. One of the things that nature does extremely well is self-regulation. When a cell needs more ions, for example, it activates mechanisms that allow for the ions to flow into the cell. Once the cell’s needs are met and it has reached a certain equilibrium known as homeostasis, it can then turn off the ion flow.This biological mechanism can be conceptually likened to the selective nature of a bandpass filter in electronics. While a bandpass filter discriminates signals based on a specific range of frequencies, allowing only those within a designated band to pass through, the cell selectively permits ions to enter or exit based on its current needs. Although the comparison is a simplification, as the biological process is governed by complex biochemical feedback rather than binary signals, it similarly achieves selective permeability—akin to how a bandpass filter selectively permits certain frequencies while excluding others.<blockquote>Sailan Shui took inspiration from the functioning of a bandpass filter and engineered its biological equivalent.<footer>Professor Bruno Correia, head of LPDI</footer></blockquote>A current limitation in synthetic biology is that no design, up until now, offers this type of functionality—it’s all or nothing, only ‘on’ or only ‘off’. Think of penicillin delivery. As there is no regulatory system based on biological sensors for drug dosing, a diabetic needs to continuously monitor the insulin level. Sailan Shui’s work at LPDI focused on these types of biological sensors and switches that could drastically improve drug delivery and other biological systems. “Shui was unsatisfied by the on/off paradigm and decided to engineer a switch that could respond to changes in a cell’s internal and external environment. So she took inspiration from the functioning of a bandpass filter and engineered its biological equivalent,” explains Correia.To create this novel function in biological systems, the team designed proteins and inserted them into living cells. In biology, function flows from form. Correia and Shui observed the structure of folded proteins and their effect on self-regulating functions inside the cell. They then created computational models that could potentially act as a bandpass filter from these observations. Once the digital design was validated using computer simulations, they started working on building the protein structure by manipulating its DNA and amino acid configuration. Finally, they tested the design in cell cultures. The results are conclusive. Their design, which they share with the research community in the spirit of open research, will most likely be used by researchers around the world in ways yet foreseen.As a hypothetical application in synthetic biology, researchers could create a system that operates similarly to an electronic bandpass filter to regulate insulin delivery based on blood glucose levels. Engineered proteins would serve as sensors, detecting high glucose and triggering insulin release until levels normalize. This would automate insulin dosing, potentially improving diabetes management and reducing the need for frequent monitoring. Such a system would represent a significant advancement in the use of synthetic biology for therapeutic applications.This fundamental research is essential for developing the tools, building blocks and hardware of the future of synthetic biology. “We have a clear methodology but also embrace the serendipity of science. It was the scientist Leo Scheller in my lab who had the vision to understand the importance of this work. It was a team effort,” says Correia. A team effort that brings the field one important step closer to engineering better drug delivery technology, more efficient bioreactors, and even entirely new forms of biological entities.<hr>ReferencesShui, S., Scheller, L. &amp; Correia, B.E. Protein-based bandpass filters for controlling cellular signaling with chemical inputs. Nat Chem Biol (2023).&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-023-01463-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-023-01463-7</a>

EPFL scientists have crafted a biological system that mimics an electronic bandpass filter, a novel sensor that could revolutionize self-regulated biological mechanisms in synthetic biology.

A bandpass filter for synthetic biology

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biomedical devices

Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) Machine in Laboratory

This article delves into the fundamental principles of SEM, various imaging modes and techniques, sample preparation methods, and the applications of SEM in different fields.

Biomedical Devices

Profiles