Engineers at Stanford University are hoping that an emerging technology could someday be used to treat diseases in an entirely different way.
The engineers say the breakthrough started with the challenge of miniaturizing a small pacemaker. And for Stanford professor Ada Poon, Ph.D., it’s just part of a bigger plan to fight disease, by changing the way we think about electricity.
“We came up with a new way to wirelessly power tiny medical devices that could be placed very deep inside the body,” Poon said.
To charge those tiny devices without batteries, the Stanford team began experimenting with a new way to project electricity safely into the human body. The system they came up with employs electromagnetic waves similar to those used to power an electric toothbrush.
But researcher John Ho says once the waves enter the body, they begin a kind of natural acceleration.
“Taking advantage of the simple fact that properties of waves change as they move from one type of material to another,” Ho said. “These near field waves are converted into propagating waves. And they travel much farther than they would otherwise.”
Several inches into the body, in fact — deep enough to reach the miniaturized pacemaker and power it.
“We demonstrated we can blend the safety of the near field with the propagation of the far field,” Poon said.
Powering a new generation of miniaturized devices would be a medical breakthrough in itself. But the Stanford team believes their system has the potential to do much more, like treating disease with electricity.
Read more . . .
The Latest on: Bioelectronics
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Bioelectronics” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Bioelectronics
- Hydrogen Is A Gamechanger For Vertical Flighton July 31, 2024 at 4:12 pm
Today’s battery electric VTOL aircraft will show the benefits of electric flight, but hydrogen-electric aircraft will enable much greater capabilities.
- High-tech bandages could fend off infections, improve healingon July 29, 2024 at 1:03 pm
When wounds happen, we want them to heal quickly and without complications, but sometimes infections and other complications prevent it. Chronic wounds are a significant health concern that affects ...
- Nanotech And Bioelectronics: We Have To Pay Attention To Thison July 26, 2024 at 7:23 am
If you weren't paying attention to what's been done with nanotechnology in the next decade, some of what we've heard at recent events is raising eyebrows in a big way.
- Novel biosensor could enable fast, precise disease diagnosis and preventionon July 24, 2024 at 10:19 am
A research team affiliated with UNIST has unveiled biosensor technology that uses light to quickly and accurately detect trace amounts of proteins. This breakthrough has significant implications for ...
- Galvani Bioelectronics Announces Clinical Progression of Its Therapy Platform and Addition of New Chief Medical Officeron July 17, 2024 at 1:19 pm
Galvani Bioelectronics, a clinical-stage therapeutics company formed through a strategic partnership between GSK and Verily Life Sciences to develop targeted neuromodulation therapies, today announced ...
- Researchers develop 'jelly-like' batteries to power wearable devices, brain implantson July 17, 2024 at 11:00 am
Cambridge University said its researchers have developed an electric-eel-inspired, jelly-like, battery for use in wearable devices and potentially for brain implants to treat neurological conditions.
- Galvani Bioelectronics Announces Clinical Progression of Its Therapy Platform and Addition of New Chief Medical Officeron July 16, 2024 at 9:19 pm
Galvani Bioelectronics, a clinical-stage therapeutics company formed through a strategic partnership between GSK and Verily Life Sciences to develop targeted neuromodulation therapies, today ...
- Understanding Bioelectronics: The Intersection of Biology and Electronicson March 9, 2024 at 4:39 am
Definition: Bioelectronics is an interdisciplinary field that blends biology with electronics, focusing on the development and application of electronic devices and technologies to biology and ...
- Astellas doubles down on partnership and buys bioelectronics firm iotaon February 4, 2023 at 7:26 pm
Bioelectronics is a field that has been investigated by Google’s life sciences division Verily, which co-founded Galvani Bioelectronics with GlaxoSmithKline in 2016. The partnership focused on ...
- MAT_SCI 353: Bioelectronicson November 14, 2019 at 10:05 pm
BME/MSE 353 covers the materials, device, and some systems level design of bioelectronics for wearable and implantable applications. Significant focus will be placed on the characteristics at the ...
via Bing News
