#bioelectronics

Electronics have been transforming from rigid, lifeless systems into adaptive, living platforms capable of seamlessly interacting with biological environments. Researchers at Binghamton University are pioneering "living metal" composites embedded with bacterial endospores, paving the way for dynamic communication and integration between electronic and biological systems. In a paper published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, Professor Seokheun "Sean" Choi, Maryam Rezaie, Ph.D., and doctoral student Yang "Lexi" Gao share their potentially groundbreaking study on liquid living metal composites that could redefine the future of bioelectronics.

New, more biocompatible materials for bioelectronic applications

Bioelectronics is a field of research in which biology and electronics converge. In medicine, for example, an external electric current is used to cure or monitor diseases of the nervous system, and also to monitor biomarkers in situ. Devices made of conductive materials are used for these applications. The most widely used conductive polymer so far in energy and biomedical applications is PEDOT doped with PSS, known as PEDOT:PSS. Despite its exceptional properties, new conductive materials that can improve some of its limitations, such as biocompatibility, still need to be developed. A study conducted by CIC biomaGUNE's Biomolecular Nanotechnology group is proposing a mechanism for doping PEDOT using a robust engineered protein (PEDOT:Protein); the outcome is a hybrid material with ionic and electronic conductivity, which is quite similar to PEDOT:PSS in some cases. The paper is published in the journal Small.

Electrical Orchestration

How hollow organoids – lab-grown 3D tissue models – can be shaped and inflated by external electrical stimulation highlights the role of life's natural bioelectrical systems (as in water regulation) and has potential for applications in fields such as bioengineering and developmental biology

Read the published research article here

Image from work by Gawoon Shim and Isaac B. Breinyn, and colleagues

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in Nature Communications, April 2024

Our Bioelectronic Future: Smaller, Smarter, Connected – De Lange Conference at Rice University: Video

Bioelectronics, Our Bioelectronic Future: Smaller, Smarter, Connected

De Lange Conference XI | December 4-5, 2018 | Rice University De Lange Conference XIwill bring together biologists, engineers, medical researchers, policy scholars, humanists, and industrial representatives from the nascent bioelectronics industry and federal agencies will serve to identify the grand challenges in the field,…

For years, Prof. Bozhi Tian's lab has been learning how to integrate the world of electronics—rigid, metallic, bulky—with the world of the body—soft, flexible, delicate. In their latest work, they have created a prototype for what they call "living bioelectronics": a combination of living cells, gel, and electronics that can integrate with living tissue. Their study was published May 30 in Science. The patches are made of sensors, bacterial cells, and a gel made from starch and gelatin. Tests in mice found that the devices could continuously monitor and improve psoriasis-like symptoms, without irritating skin. "This is a bridge from traditional bioelectronics, which incorporates living cells as part of the therapy," said Jiuyun Shi, the co-first author of the paper and a former Ph.D. student in Tian's lab (now with Stanford University).