Implantable electronic device gets to grips with tissue
Researchers from the University of Texas at Dallas and the University of Tokyo have created electronic devices that become soft when implanted inside the body and can grip large tissues, nerves and blood vessels.
According to UTD, these biologically adaptive, flexible transistors might one day help doctors learn more about what is happening inside the body, and stimulate the body for treatments.
The research, published in Advanced Materials, is one of the first demonstrations of transistors that can change shape and maintain their electronic properties after they are implanted in the body, said Jonathan Reeder BS’12, a graduate student in materials science and engineering and lead author of the work.
‘Scientists and physicians have been trying to put electronics in the body for a while now, but one of the problems is that the stiffness of common electronics is not compatible with biological tissue,’ he said in a statement. ‘You need the device to be stiff at room temperature so the surgeon can implant the device, but soft and flexible enough to wrap around 3D objects so the body can behave exactly as it would without the device. By putting electronics on shape-changing and softening polymers, we can do just that.’
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