<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

<h2 id="isPasted">Comparing Inkjet and Extrusion Printing Methods</h2>Biomedical electrodes play a crucial role in evaluating the internal processes of the human body by converting biological stimuli into electrical signals. This process is commonly used for electrocardiograms (ECG/EKG), electromyography (EMG), and electroencephalogram (EEG) procedures, and almost always uses silver/silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) electrodes with male connector snap closures.&nbsp;While there are benefits to using these electrodes, they “are susceptible to motion artifacts, can be uncomfortable for the user, and are unsuitable for long term use,” according to <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/361717600_Inkjet_and_Extrusion_Printed_Silver_Biomedical_Tattoo_Electrodes" target="_blank">research</a> by York University’s Yoland El-hajj et al.&nbsp;In contrast, electrodes printed on tattoo paper offer a promising alternative for monitoring biological activities. In an interview with Voltera, El-hajj noted the best way to acquire signals from the body is to use a sensor that fits seamlessly with the body, rather than a sensor that sits rigidly on the skin.&nbsp;<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MEW3q7GKYQA?&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-12="true" id="575592054" title="NOVA at York University: Biomedical Tattoos">&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe><h2 id="isPasted">Extrusion Printing with NOVA</h2>In <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/361717600_Inkjet_and_Extrusion_Printed_Silver_Biomedical_Tattoo_Electrodes" target="_blank">Inkjet and Extrusion Printed Silver Biomedical Tattoo Electrodes</a>, El-hajj et al compared two common methods — <a href="https://www.voltera.io/blog/introduction-inkjet-technology" target="_blank">inkjet printing</a> and extrusion printing — to print the electrodes using silver ink.According to the study, “Silver-based inks were selected as the printing medium due to their high conductivity, mechanical robustness, biocompatibility, and moderate cost compared to other inks (e.g. gold, graphene).”Using <a href="http://www.voltera.io/nova" target="_blank">Voltera NOVA</a>, the group studied various shapes to test the performance and signal quality of the printed electrodes. El-hajj noted that, because the tattoo paper is quite thin, it can be used for many functional purposes, such as integration with prosthetic devices.&nbsp;“This is a starting point. Once the printing parameters for printing the specific ink on the specific substrate are optimized, you can go further. You can work on different sensors that can be integrated with the body, such as strain sensors, or even potentially explore areas of energy harvesting.”&nbsp;When it came to summarizing how NOVA helped her in this study, El-hajj observed that NOVA makes the printing process more efficient, and calibrating materials and aligning patterns is easier than ever. NOVA is more cost effective and reduces the time it takes to print patterns on a substrate compared to other printing methods, including inkjet.<h2>Results: Inkjet vs. Extrusion Printing</h2>The research findings indicated that inkjet printed electrodes are ideal for acquiring signals in areas of the body engaged in higher movement (e.g. EMG) due to their ability to better withstand bending strain. However, the extrusion printed electrodes exhibit a lower sheet resistance and impedance, and the ink does not absorb into the paper — a common issue encountered with inkjet printed tattoo electrodes.<h3>Inkjet vs. Extrusion Sheet Resistance</h3><ul><li>Extrusion printed electrodes: 9.4 mΩ/sq</li><li>Inkjet printed electrodes: 25.1 kΩ/sq</li></ul><h3>Inkjet vs. Extrusion Impedance</h3><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1699263958757-IMAGE+02-01.jpg" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><h2 id="isPasted">Conclusion</h2>Printed silver biomedical tattoo electrodes represent a promising advancement in biomedical monitoring technology. Their potential to offer greater comfort, flexibility, and efficiency, as well as their personalized, non-invasive nature compared to traditional electrode options, is paving the way for innovative advancements in healthcare. In fact, El-hajj has gone on to continue her research in biomedical printed electronics, founding her own company called Epictrode Health.<a href="https://www.voltera.io/blog/printed-tattoo-electrodes" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a>

Electrodes printed on tattoo paper offer a promising alternative for monitoring biological activities.

Printed Tattoo Electrodes: Cutting-Edge Biomedical Monitoring

Under a new $26.3 million federal contract from the <a href="https://arpa-h.gov/" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health</a> (ARPA-H), a multidisciplinary team of researchers at Stanford University aims to bioprint a fully functioning human heart and implant it in a living pig within five years.“It’s truly a moonshot effort, but the raw ingredients for bioprinting a complete and complex human organ are now in place for this big push,” said <a href="https://profiles.stanford.edu/mark-skylar-scott" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Mark Skylar-Scott</a>, assistant professor of bioengineering, a member of the <a href="https://med.stanford.edu/cvi.html" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Stanford Cardiovascular Institute</a>, and principal investigator on the project.The vision of fabricating bespoke, patient-specific human organs – livers, lungs, kidneys, brain, and, yes, a human heart – has been a tantalizing dream of modern medicine for years, but only recently has stem cell science, the scale of cell production, and 3D bioprinting advanced to a point where the dream is within reach.Bioprinting is a 3D printing technology that, instead of using plastic or metal, prints living tissues cell by cell. The key development, Skylar-Scott said, is that we can now print cells and blood vessels into those tissues.“With vasculature comes the ability to make large and thick tissues that can be implanted and survive,” Skylar-Scott said. “Thus begins the era of organ biofabrication.”<h2>Leap in scale</h2>That bioprinting expertise is coupled with a dramatic leap in scale in cell production, from the petri dish of old to today’s reactors able to turn out heart-specific cells billions at a time. These will become the bioprinter’s “ink.”“We are going to use an automated bank of bioreactors to produce the different cell types of the heart,” Skylar-Scott said.This bank of bioreactors will turn out billions of ventricular and atrial cardiomyocytes, specialized conduction cells that form the Purkinje fibers, nodal cells that are the heart’s pace-making cells, as well as smooth muscle cells, macrophages that support tissue development, and, of course, the blood vessel endothelial cells needed to keep the tissue alive. Skylar-Scott estimates that the team will be able to generate sufficient cells for a heart every two weeks.<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1DncnbEE3Ls?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-gtm-yt-inspected-8="true" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe>“We will use these vast numbers of cells to practice, practice, practice and learn all the design rules of the heart and optimize viability and function at the whole-heart scale for eventual implantation into a pig,” he said. The bioprinted human heart will be transplanted into a pig with severe congenital immunodeficiency to prevent rejection. However, the team’s approach uses patient-specific stem cells that, when transplanted into that same patient, may not require immunosuppression. “Your own heart, made out of your own cells; that is the dream,” Skylar-Scott added.The dramatic scope of the project prompts vision of a day when similar biofabrication plants manufacture new hearts, lungs, livers, and other organs for implantation into ailing humans – each bioprinted organ a perfect genetic match for its patient. Such aspirations are to be expected, Skylar-Scott said, but he adds that he believes that day is still decades off, if not more. Still, this bioprinting initiative will serve as a necessary and powerful proof-of-concept to accelerate the commercialization and translation of organ engineering.<h2>Ecosystem of expertise</h2>Discussion of such possibilities brings Skylar-Scott full circle to the challenge ahead. Bioprinting and implanting a heart into a living creature will require a profound collection of expertise well beyond the skills of any one researcher. In that regard, Skylar-Scott returns to the Stanford research ecosystem that makes this project a possibility.While he is the principal investigator on the project, the full team of Stanford experts needed to make the dream a reality is remarkable in its depth and breadth (see sidebar). It includes experts in engineering, biochemistry, computer modeling, cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery, biology, materials science, and more. Only Stanford concentrates leadership in all these disparate but interrelated fields within walking distance of one another.Stanford is a real center of excellence for cardiovascular medicine, Skylar-Scott said – the Cardiovascular Institute, stem cell derivation expertise, and vascular experts to provide the raw materials combined with a great ecosystem of 3D bioprinting and materials faculty to think how to use and assemble the materials.“When you have all these resources in one place, it makes it easier to collaborate and to do some pretty amazing things,” Skylar-Scott said.<hr><h2 id="isPasted">Research team</h2><ul><li><a href="https://profiles.stanford.edu/mark-skylar-scott" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Mark Skylar-Scott</a>, Bioengineering, Principal Investigator</li><li><a href="https://profiles.stanford.edu/joseph-desimone" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Joseph DeSimone</a>, Chemical Engineering</li><li><a href="https://profiles.stanford.edu/daniel-ennis" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Daniel Ennis</a>, Radiology</li><li><a href="https://profiles.stanford.edu/sarah-heilshorn" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Sarah Heilshorn</a>, Materials Science and Engineering</li><li><a href="https://profiles.stanford.edu/ellen-kuhl" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Ellen Kuhl</a>, Mechanical Engineering</li><li><a href="https://profiles.stanford.edu/kyle-loh" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Kyle Loh</a>, Developmental Biology</li><li><a href="https://profiles.stanford.edu/michael-ma" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Michael Ma</a>, Cardiothoracic Surgery</li><li><a href="https://profiles.stanford.edu/alison-marsden" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Alison Marsden</a>, Cardiology</li><li><a href="https://profiles.stanford.edu/allison-okamura" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Allison Okamura</a>, Mechanical Engineering</li><li><a href="https://profiles.stanford.edu/marlene-rabinovitch" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Marlene Rabinovitch</a>, Cardiology</li><li><a href="https://profiles.stanford.edu/mac-schwager" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Mac Schwager</a>, Aeronautical Engineering</li><li><a href="https://profiles.stanford.edu/joseph-woo" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Joseph Woo</a>, Cardiothoracic Surgery</li><li><a href="https://profiles.stanford.edu/joseph-wu" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Joseph Wu</a>, Cardiology</li><li><a href="https://profiles.stanford.edu/ming-wu" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Sean Wu</a>, Cardiology</li></ul>

A 3D bioprinter in the Skylar-Scott lab prints a sample of heart tissue in 2022. | Photo by Andrew Broadhead

Advances in the 3D printing of living tissue – a field known as bioprinting – puts within reach the possibility of fabricating whole organs from scratch and implanting them in living beings. A multidisciplinary team from Stanford received a federal contract to do just that.

Moonshot effort aims to bioprint a human heart and implant it in pig

When Carnegie Mellon’s <a href="https://engineering.cmu.edu/mfi/index.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Manufacturing Futures Institute</a> (MFI) issues its annual call for proposals each fall, it makes clear its objectives for offering seed funding to groups of CMU faculty whose research is aligned with MFI’s mission to inspire, engineer, and lead technological and workforce advances for agile, intelligent, efficient, resilient, and sustainable manufacturing.They are interested in funding research that falls into one of MFIs strategic priority areas; plays to CMU’s strengths in fields, such as AI and machine learning, coupled with advanced manufacturing technologies, such as robotics and additive manufacturing; benefits from convergent research and expertise from different disciplines; and shows potential for seeding the future of advanced manufacturing with new ideas that fuel innovation and attract future investments.“We receive so many great proposals across a wide variety of advanced manufacturing topics that deciding which to fund is difficult. We focus on the ones that propose innovative interdisciplinary approaches that can truly advance the state of the art. Industrial relevance is important as well, given our interest in technology transition,” said <a href="https://engineering.cmu.edu/directory/bios/wolf-sandra-devincent.html" target="_blank">Sandra DeVincent Wolf</a>, executive director of the MFI.<blockquote>We focus on funding projects that propose innovative interdisciplinary approaches that can truly advance the state of the art. Industrial relevance is important as well, given our interest in technology transition.<cite>Sandra DeVincent Wolf,&nbsp;Executive Director, <cite id="isPasted">Manufacturing Futures Institute</cite></cite></blockquote>She and <a href="https://engineering.cmu.edu/directory/bios/fedder-gary.html" target="_blank">Gary Fedder</a>, faculty director of MFI, reserve the right to ask for modifications to a proposal when timelines are too aggressive, funding amounts are not fully justified, or the project is missing a partner with a vital set of skills and expertise.That was the case when faculty members <a href="https://engineering.cmu.edu/directory/bios/leduc-philip.html" target="_blank">Phil LeDuc</a>, <a href="https://engineering.cmu.edu/directory/bios/ozdoganlar-burak.html" target="_blank">Burak Ozdoganlar</a>, and <a href="https://engineering.cmu.edu/directory/bios/ren-xi.html" target="_blank">Charlie Ren</a> requested funding last year for the next phase of their ice printing research.The team developed a novel approach to 3D print ice structures that are small enough to create vasculature in artificial tissue and other open features inside a fabricated part by creating sacrificial templates that later form the conduits and voids. It has proven to be a promising method. Still, it relied upon a lot of trial and error, as many automated approaches do initially, in their development to achieve the specific intended geometry.Creating more precise and reproducible geometries necessitates developing a feedback control approach, which would intelligently adjust parameters during printing to achieve the desired intricate geometries.Since LeDuc and Ozdoganlar <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/advs.202201566" rel="noopener" target="_blank">published their findings</a>, which was featured on the cover of the prestigious Advanced Science journal in July 2022, they have received positive feedback at numerous conference presentations, as well as support that has encouraged them to explore how their ice printing method can be further developed.The initial biomedical engineering applications were clear and showed direct potential for use in personalized medicine. Still, the method also has the potential to revolutionize manufacturing by enabling the automated production of tiny internal 3D microchannels for many applications in various fields ranging from medicine to soft robotics.Micromanufacturing technology and advanced approaches are fundamental to numerous critical applications across various sectors, including scientific research, healthcare, national security, and space exploration, as well as the digital transformation in industry that is at the heart of MFI’s manufacturing mission.According to LeDuc and Ozdoganlar, the experimental and computational methods needed to build models to control the ice printing process are challenging. The microscale size and the fast nature of the thermal-fluidic processes and phase-changes (solid, liquid, gas) processes further exacerbate the challenges. &nbsp;“We know that if we can build a sensor feedback system that can make adjustments in real-time, it will be very powerful for these approaches.” said LeDuc.Wolf knew just the person who could help them develop the sensor hardware and computer vision algorithms needed to create a feedback control approach to produce the degree of control needed for printing the microscale ice structures.Lu Li, a project scientist at Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute, had already brought his artificial intelligence and robotics expertise to several other MFI-funded projects. And according to LeDuc, Li has already made some great contributions to this new project.With Li’s help, the team has reduced the time required for image segmentation from two to three seconds to 50 microseconds. Image segmentation is a computer vision task in machine learning that involves dividing an image into multiple segments or regions based on certain criteria so that the image can be changed into something that is more meaningful and easier to analyze.“This is so typical of how we work at CMU. First of all, the ability to collaborate with someone like Lu Li, who has the skills we needed to move this forward, has been fantastic. And even though the MFI funding is not a huge amount of money, it has allowed us to keep moving forward with an idea that has huge potential,” said LeDuc.Wolf is equally excited to be working with LeDuc, who she says was open to her suggestions, grateful for her recommendation, and brings enthusiasm and energy to our manufacturing community at CMU.

Manufacturing Futures Institute funds a biomanufacturing research project that could revolutionize microchip production for use in medical devices and engineered tissue.

3D micro-ice printing for medical applications

In this episode, we explore the groundbreaking potential of an implantable device that promises a future without injections for diabetes control and we delve into the science, the impact on patients, and the promises it holds for a brighter future in diabetes care. 

Podcast: Implantable Chip To Cure Diabetes

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/0a80bd29-e245-4c39-8375-0c544a26f6f8?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>This article originally appeared in <a href="https://news.mit.edu/2023/implantable-device-enable-injection-free-control-diabetes-0918" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">MIT News</a> and has been republished with permission.<hr>One promising approach to treating Type 1 diabetes is implanting pancreatic islet cells that can produce insulin when needed, which can free patients from giving themselves frequent insulin injections. However, one major obstacle to this approach is that once the cells are implanted, they eventually run out of oxygen and stop producing insulin.To overcome that hurdle, MIT engineers have designed a new implantable device that not only carries hundreds of thousands of insulin-producing islet cells, but also has its own on-board oxygen factory, which generates oxygen by splitting water vapor found in the body.The researchers showed that when implanted into diabetic mice, this device could keep the mice’s blood glucose levels stable for at least a month. The researchers now hope to create a larger version of the device, about the size of a stick of chewing gum, that could eventually be tested in people with Type 1 diabetes.“You can think of this as a living medical device that is made from human cells that secrete insulin, along with an electronic life support-system. We’re excited by the progress so far, and we really are optimistic that this technology could end up helping patients,” says Daniel Anderson, a professor in MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering, a member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES), and the senior author of the study.While the researchers’ main focus is on diabetes treatment, they say that this kind of device could also be adapted to treat other diseases that require repeated delivery of therapeutic proteins.MIT Research Scientist Siddharth Krishnan is the lead author of the <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2311707120" target="_blank">paper</a>, which appears today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research team also includes several other researchers from MIT, including Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT and a member of the Koch Institute, as well as researchers from Boston Children’s Hospital.<h2><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjk1NjM1MTI1ODM3LU1JVC1Jc2xldHMtT3h5Z2VuLTAyLXByZXNzLmpwZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Pictured is the device submerged in water, generating oxygen (bottom) and hydrogen (top) bubbles without the need for any batteries or wires. Image: Courtesy of Claudia Liu and Dr. Siddharth Krishnan, MIT/Boston Children’s HospitalReplacing injections</h2>Most patients with Type 1 diabetes have to monitor their blood glucose levels carefully and inject themselves with insulin at least once a day. However, this process doesn’t replicate the body’s natural ability to control blood glucose levels.“The vast majority of diabetics that are insulin-dependent are injecting themselves with insulin, and doing their very best, but they do not have healthy blood sugar levels,” Anderson says. “If you look at their blood sugar levels, even for people that are very dedicated to being careful, they just can’t match what a living pancreas can do.”A better alternative would be to transplant cells that produce insulin whenever they detect surges in the patient’s blood glucose levels. Some diabetes patients have received transplanted islet cells from human cadavers, which can achieve long-term control of diabetes; however, these patients have to take immunosuppressive drugs to prevent their body from rejecting the implanted cells.More recently, researchers have shown similar success with islet cells derived from stem cells, but patients who receive those cells also need to take immunosuppressive drugs.Another possibility, which could prevent the need for immunosuppressive drugs, is to encapsulate the transplanted cells within a flexible device that protects the cells from the immune system. However, finding a reliable oxygen supply for these encapsulated cells has proven challenging.Some experimental devices, including one that has been tested in clinical trials, feature an oxygen chamber that can supply the cells, but this chamber needs to be reloaded periodically. Other researchers have developed implants that include chemical reagents that can generate oxygen, but these also run out eventually.The MIT team took a different approach that could potentially generate oxygen indefinitely, by splitting water. This is done using a proton-exchange membrane — a technology originally deployed to generate hydrogen in fuel cells — located within the device. This membrane can split water vapor (found abundantly in the body) into hydrogen, which diffuses harmlessly away, and oxygen, which goes into a storage chamber that feeds the islet cells through a thin, oxygen-permeable membrane.A significant advantage of this approach is that it does not require any wires or batteries. Splitting this water vapor requires a small voltage (about 2 volts), which is generated using a phenomenon known as resonant inductive coupling. A tuned magnetic coil located outside the body transmits power to a small, flexible antenna within the device, allowing for wireless power transfer. It does require an external coil, which the researchers anticipate could be worn as a patch on the patient’s skin.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjk1NjM1MjM0Njc0LU1JVC1Jc2xldHMtT3h5Z2VuLTAzLXByZXNzLmpwZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 768px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">This photo shows the cathode side of fully assembled device, with a United States quarter-dollar coin for scale.&nbsp; Image: Courtesy of Claudia Liu and Dr. Siddharth Krishnan, MIT/Boston Children’s Hospital<h2>Drugs on demand</h2>After building their device, which is about the size of a U.S. quarter, the researchers tested it in diabetic mice. One group of mice received the device with the oxygen-generating, water-splitting membrane, while the other received a device that contained islet cells without any supplemental oxygen. The devices were implanted just under the skin, in mice with fully functional immune systems.The researchers found that mice implanted with the oxygen-generating device were able to maintain normal blood glucose levels, comparable to healthy animals. However, mice that received the nonoxygenated device became hyperglycemic (with elevated blood sugar) within about two weeks.Typically when any kind of medical device is implanted in the body, attack by the immune system leads to a buildup of scar tissue called fibrosis, which can reduce the devices’ effectiveness. This kind of scar tissue did form around the implants used in this study, but the device’s success in controlling blood glucose levels suggests that insulin was still able to diffuse out of the device, and glucose into it.This approach could also be used to deliver cells that produce other types of therapeutic proteins that need to be given over long periods of time. In this study, the researchers showed that the device could also keep alive cells that produce erythropoietin, a protein that stimulates red blood cell production.“We’re optimistic that it will be possible to make living medical devices that can reside in the body and produce drugs as needed,” Anderson says. “There are a variety of diseases where patients need to take proteins exogenously, sometimes very frequently. If we can replace the need for infusions every other week with a single implant that can act for a long time, I think that could really help a lot of patients.”The researchers now plan to adapt the device for testing in larger animals and eventually humans. For human use, they hope to develop an implant that would be about the size of a stick of chewing gum. They also plan to test whether the device can remain in the body for longer periods of time.“The materials we’ve used are inherently stable and long-lived, so I think that kind of long-term operation is within the realm of possibility, and that’s what we’re working on,” Krishnan says.“We are very excited about these findings, which we believe could provide a whole new way of someday treating diabetes and possibly other diseases,” Langer adds.<hr>"Reprinted with permission of <a href="https://news.mit.edu/2023/implantable-device-enable-injection-free-control-diabetes-0918" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" id="isPasted">MIT News</a>" &nbsp;

MIT engineers designed an implantable device that carries hundreds of thousands of islet cells along with its own on-board oxygen factory to keep the cells healthy. Image: Felice Frankel

The device contains encapsulated cells that produce insulin, plus a tiny oxygen-producing factory that keeps the cells healthy.

An implantable device could enable injection-free control of diabetes

In a world often defined by disparities in healthcare access, Victoria Hand Project, a Canadian charity, is a beacon of hope. Founded in 2015 with the mission to provide accessible 3D-printed prosthetic care to under-resourced communities around the world, Victoria Hand Project has transformed lives by combining cutting-edge technology with compassionate outreach.

Hands for Ukraine: The Victoria Hand Project's 3D Printing Initiative to Democratize Access to Prosthetic Care in Ukraine

In this episode, we discuss the accidental discovery of how amputees can sense temperature in their phantom limbs and how EPFL researchers have exploited this to develop the first generation of prosthetics that can feel.

Podcast: Amputees Feel Warmth In Their Missing Hand

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.

Scanning Electron Microscopy: A Comprehensive Guide

As part of the TechBlick (wwww.TechBlick.com) series we invited <a data-hook="linkViewer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/wladimirpunt/" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Wladimir Punt</a> from Molex to tell us about how &nbsp;hybrid printed electronics can enhance function and manufacturing of wearable medical sensors.&nbsp; Here you wll learn about the trends, archirectures and challenges. Wladimir and his team at Molex are very well placed in this field, having had the opportunity to develop, prototype, and mass produce many wearable medical sensors over the years. This article was originally published on TechBlick<a href="https://www.techblick.com/post/smart-skin-patches-and-noninvasive-medical-sensing-molex" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;here.</a>&nbsp;The advance of electronics miniaturization is opening new frontiers in Medtech, including in the field of adhesive skin patches. In the past, a skin patch might contain a single wired sensor. But today&rsquo;s smart skin patches incorporate a broader range of functions. Hybrid printed electronics permit a variety of electronic devices and noninvasive sensors to be affixed to a thin and flexible substrate, enabling designers to integrate sensors, microcontrollers, wireless connectivity and batteries into a capable, durable and connected device.&nbsp;Whether in a clinical or home setting, this enables far more comprehensive patient monitoring. Adding enhanced capabilities to lightweight and flexible skin patches allows patients to go about their day while they (or their healthcare provider) monitor vital signs or activity noninvasively. There is tremendous potential for this flexibility to improve patient monitoring and make it simpler, more comfortable and more accessible.<div data-hook="rcv-block9" type="paragraph"> </div><a href="https://www.techblick.com/electronicsreshaped" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a><div data-hook="imageViewer" tabindex="0"><a href="https://www.techblick.com/electronicsreshaped" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1690284990194-1690284990194.png" alt="" data-pin-media="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/090711_9f48526d064f49abb931769f58299b01~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_1231,h_298,al_c,lg_1,q_90/090711_9f48526d064f49abb931769f58299b01~mv2.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></a></div><div data-hook="rcv-block12" type="empty-line"> </div><h3>The Evolving Need for Connected Medical Sensing</h3><div data-hook="rcv-block14" type="empty-line"> </div>The demand for mobile, connected and noninvasive medical sensing capabilities is growing. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for hospitals and clinics to monitor patients remotely became clear. This capability did more than allow doctors to track their patients&rsquo; vital signs while maintaining social distancing &mdash; it also helped address hospital overcrowding and assisted in alleviating staffing issues. Smart skin patches have emerged as a lightweight, comfortable and portable method of monitoring patients both inside and outside a healthcare facility.&nbsp;The market for home health monitoring is flourishing as well. With smart skin patches, home users can monitor their heart activity, temperature and muscle health. These devices can be used for monitoring sleep and brainwave activity, making the low profile and light weight nature of smart skin patches especially helpful. Skin patches are increasingly popular for femtech applications such as pregnancy monitoring as well.&nbsp;Smart skin patches all use flexible printed circuit technology and safe skin contacting adhesive, but their design architecture varies depending on the application. Each skin patch design is customized and, depending on the need, can be disposable or reusable. Disposable and one-time-use skin patches have a flexible substrate, usually polyethylene terephthalate (PET), with the electronics affixed directly to the substrate. In reusable patches, the electronics are mounted inside a removable &ldquo;puck&rdquo; housing that mechanically and electrically connects to the substrate. The electronic components are reusable and only the electrodes in contact with the skin are disposable, reducing waste. This can, however, add logistics challenges and costs for the refurbishing process in some cases.<h3>Opportunities and Challenges of Smart Skin Patches</h3><div data-hook="rcv-block21" type="h3"> </div><div data-hook="imageViewer" tabindex="0"><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1690284989596-1690284989595.png" alt="" data-pin-media="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/090711_fe0334c255c64ef9b8d8fba7949a06f2~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_900,h_661,al_c,q_85/090711_fe0334c255c64ef9b8d8fba7949a06f2~mv2.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dii" style="width: 578px;"></div><div data-hook="rcv-block24" type="image"> </div>Designers of monitoring systems can leverage a wide range of smart skin patch feature options. The skin patch can include various types of electronic devices. One or more sensors can be fitted, including temperature sensors, chemical sensors, electrodes and even optical sensors. The skin patch can also include a battery, a microcontroller and a radio frequency (RF) antenna to maintain a wireless connection to the network.&nbsp;These are the physical building blocks of the system, and to achieve a specific purpose designers can mix, match and customize them to meet performance targets. Different combinations of sensors and other devices can work with sophisticated software to noninvasively paint a picture of a patient&rsquo;s condition or vital signs.&nbsp;Sounds simple, right? Alas, system reliability requires several different engineering disciplines. For example, material science is vital to ensure the substrate can accommodate the expected wear, yet also provide a secure anchor for the electronic components. The type of conductive paste and hydrogel must meet the system&rsquo;s requirements for manufacturability, shelf life and performance. Electronic components need to operate reliably during the expected lifetime of the product. Robust testing and validation are necessary to ensure product performance and support regulatory compliance.<h3>From Concept to Production</h3>Creating a smart skin patch means assembling multiple puzzle pieces to create a complete system. Collaborating with a company with decades of experience in this field is crucial. At Molex, several engineering disciplines work together to achieve a unified goal:<ul><li>Hybrid printed electronics desig</li><li>Material science</li><li>Wireless connectivity</li><li>Sensor integration</li><li>Prototyping</li><li>Testing and validation</li><li>Production</li><li>Packaging</li></ul>Involving Molex engineers from the earliest stages of the design process helps ensure the product meets performance specifications and manufacturing requirements. In addition to engineering expertise, Molex also offers global manufacturing capabilities to reduce supply chain risks and speed time to market.&nbsp;The need for smart skin patches to improve patient wellness and outcomes is enormous and continues to grow. Our medical expertise and collaborative design approach coupled with our diversified supply chain, high-volume production capabilities and regulatory compliance experience (including ISO 13485 standards) enables Molex to support development of innovative skin patches that improve lives. Explore the benefits of this evolving technology - contact us about customized smart skin patch solutions.<h3>We exhibiting in Berlin on 17-18 OCT 2023. Join us, 78 other exhibitors, 68 presenters and 600+ peers.&nbsp;</h3>Lets RESHAPE Electronics Together, making it Additive, Sustainable, Flexible, and Wearable. <a data-hook="linkViewer" href="https://www.techblick.com/electronicsreshaped" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Explore now www.techblick.com/electronicsreshaped</a><a data-hook="buttonViewer" href="https://www.techblick.com/electronicsreshaped" rel="noopener noreferrer" tabindex="0" target="_blank">Info &amp; Registration</a><a href="https://www.techblick.com/electronicsreshaped" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a><div data-hook="imageViewer" tabindex="0"><a href="https://www.techblick.com/electronicsreshaped" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1690284990355-1690284990355.png" alt="" data-pin-media="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/090711_bfe22a07dc6e40a7996e12e0eda33f46~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_85/090711_bfe22a07dc6e40a7996e12e0eda33f46~mv2.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></a></div> <div data-hook="rcv-block50" type="image"> </div>

Status and evolution of intelligent skin patches, enabled by flexible hybrid electronics, going from a single wired sensors to complex wireless multi-function capability. Learn about trends, archirectures and challenges from a manufacturer's point of view to understand how to design for production.

Smart Skin Patches and Noninvasive Medical Sensing

In this episode, we discuss the breakthrough research by MIT engineers to effectively deliver drugs through the skin allowing for a lower dosage of active ingredients needed per use and a potentially pill-free implementation of commonly used drugs!

Podcast: Pills No More: Patches As The Future of Drug Delivery

In this episode, we talk about a combined effort between ETH Zurich & the Swiss Federal Lab for Material Science (EMPA) to create “smart” internal bandages for safely patching patients post stomach/intestinal surgery while providing insight to the medical staff about the status of the patch to prevent leakages which can be fatal.

Podcast: A Spy In The Belly

Alexandre Anthis with the hydrogel composite material of the sensor patch he developed during his doctoral thesis at ETH Zurich and Empa. (Photograph: Empa)

In this episode, we talk about a combined effort between ETH Zurich & the Swiss Federal Lab for Material Science (EMPA) to create “smart” internal bandages for safely patching patients post stomach/intestinal surgery while providing insight to the medical staff about the status of the patch to prevent leakages which can be fatal. 

20230717-Podcast: A Spy In The Belly

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