As fascinating as it’s known to be, a human life still comes with a lot of questions. These questions are notably staggered across different areas within our spectrum, hence to answer them all; we also end up needing different kinds of solutions. Now, over the years, human beings have devised many such solutions, but if we are being honest, none of them ever came close to matching technology’s level. The reason why technology sticks out so comfortably here is rooted in the way it reinvented our lives. You see, while any other man-made creation would have stayed restricted in terms of its impact, technology went ahead and literally took over the entire landscape. The benefit of doing so will show up big time, and once it does, it will also show up around the healthcare block. To tell you the truth, technology’s link-up with healthcare wasn’t something that had everyone onboard right away. However, as soon as we started noticing the prospects in play, the whole discussion just changed beyond recognition. In fact, even after bringing the sector so far ahead, the medtech concept will continue to deliver all the right goods, and a recent development proves that yet again.
The researching team at the Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science has successfully developed a whole new method for implanted devices to communicate with the outer world. According to certain reports, the method revolves around using ions, which are integral to the human biochemistry. As ion-rich tissues naturally hold a certain degree of energy, the implanted device, under the new methodology, is supposed to alter this energy through alternating electrical pulses. While that is being done, the professional will place electrodes on nearby skin, and therefore pick up the said alterations for the purpose of data analysis. At present, we rely heavily on stuff like wires to facilitate communication between implantable devices and the outer world. The method is hugely invasive by design. Furthermore, it can also cause other complications, including serious infection. Apart from wire, radio waves and light have been use within the stated context, but both the mediums lack adequate penetration.
Amidst a reality of that sort, the new ion-based method can really make a difference. Interestingly enough, it is faster and requires significantly less energy than all the other alternatives.
“The novel material we developed has unique properties that enable the implementation of large-scale organic bioelectronic devices, which can enhance their translation to human health applications,” said Dion Khodagholy, a researcher involved in the study. “Next, we aim to design compact and complex anisotropic-ion-conductor-based integrated circuits composed of many organic transistors for bioelectronics applications.”
So far, the researchers have tested their technology in rats, and going by the shared details, it was able to transmit brain data over a period of weeks. It also showed the sensitivity needed for signal isolation of individual neurons.
