Communications of the ACM
Stanford Engineer Invents a Way to Beam Power to Medical Chips Deep Inside the Body
A new wireless system can safely transmit energy to tiny devices embedded in the human body.
Credit: Austin Yee
An interdisciplinary team of Stanford University researchers, led by professor Ada Toon, has developed a wireless system that uses the same power as a cell phone to safely transmit energy to chips the size of a grain of rice, technology they say paves the way for new 'electroceutical' devices to treat illness or alleviate pain.
The system can wirelessly transfer power deep inside the body, and then use this power to run tiny electronic medical devices such as pacemakers, nerve stimulators, or new sensors. The researchers say the technology could lead to a new type of medicine that enables physicians to treat diseases with electronics rather than drugs.
"We need to make these devices as small as possible to more easily implant them deep in the body and create new ways to treat illness and alleviate pain," Poon says. She says the research will result in a new generation of programmable microimplants, based on a new way to control electromagnetic waves inside the body.
The researchers combined the safety of near-field waves with the reach of far-field waves by taking advantage of the fact that waves travel differently when they come into contact with different materials such as air, water, or biological tissue.
From Stanford Report (CA)
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