Going Organic for Personalized Healthcare

Not all patients respond the same way to a given treatment or medication due to differences in their physiology, genetics, lifestyle, and other factors. Better understanding and accounting for this variability is crucial for providing personalized and effective healthcare in the future. Long-term monitoring of physiologic signals plays a vital role in identifying patterns and trends in an individual's health and treatment response. By continuously monitoring a patient's physiological parameters, healthcare providers can gather vital data and make informed decisions regarding the most appropriate treatment options.

Moreover, the delivery of responsive therapeutics based on individual physiological signals holds great potential in tailoring treatments to specific patients. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, responsive therapeutics can adapt to the changing needs of an individual's body, delivering the right amount of medication at the right time. This personalized approach has the potential to enhance treatment outcomes and minimize adverse effects.

However, the use of traditional silicon-based electronics in medical devices poses a significant challenge. These devices are rigid and incompatible with physiologic media, which can cause tissue disruption and damage. The mismatch between the mechanical properties of traditional electronics and the soft, flexible nature of biological tissues limits their long-term viability within the body. Additionally, traditional electronics struggle to establish an efficient interface with biological systems, hindering their effectiveness in accurately acquiring and transmitting physiologic signals.

Engineers at Columbia University have recently reported on the development of a first-of-its-kind fully organic bioelectronic device that can acquire and transmit physiologic signals, while also providing power for its own operation. The device is biocompatible and conformable to the shape of the body, making it well-suited for long-term monitoring applications.

The device, called a vertical internal ion-gated organic electrochemical transistor (vIGT), consists of tightly-packed arrays of organic transistors 100 times smaller than the width of a human hair that are capable of operating in the megahertz signal range. Despite packing 155,000 of these transistors in a square centimeter, they exhibit crosstalk-free operation, excellent electrical performance, and fast response times.

No special encapsulation, or other packaging, is required for an implanted vIGT. They are not impaired by exposure to water or ions, and have been demonstrated to be highly stable in biological environments. Moreover, the unique characteristics of the technology allow it to be used in the development of high-performance integrated circuits.

A vIGT-based electronic device, lacking any rigid or silicon-based components, was implanted in rodents to test the real-world utility of the technology. The fully conformable implant was proven to be capable of acquiring, processing, and transmitting neurophysiologic measurements from the brains of freely moving animals. Data was captured from both the surface of the brain, as well as from deep within the brain.

Jennifer Gelinas, one of the researchers involved in this study, noted that their “work will potentially open a wide range of translational opportunities and make medical implants accessible to a large patient demographic who are traditionally not qualified for implantable devices due to the complexity and high risks of such procedures.”

Next up, the team is planning to validate the capabilities of their devices in operating rooms. Ultimately, they hope that their innovation will provide physicians with better diagnostic tools that can positively impact patients’ lives.