{"id":438218,"date":"2023-02-27T16:55:35","date_gmt":"2023-02-27T15:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/?post_type=selected&p=438218"},"modified":"2023-02-27T16:55:35","modified_gmt":"2023-02-27T15:55:35","slug":"successfully-grown-electrodes-in-living-tissue","status":"publish","type":"selected","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/selected\/successfully-grown-electrodes-in-living-tissue\/","title":{"rendered":"Electrodes grown in living tissue for the first time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Researchers in Sweden have successfully grown electrodes in living tissue using the body\u2019s molecules as triggers. The result<\/a>, achieved by a joint effort from labs at Link\u00f6ping, Lund, and Gothenburg universities, was published in the journal Science. In a press release<\/a>, the University of Link\u00f6ping explained that the paper paves the way for the formation of fully integrated electronic circuits in living organisms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor several decades, we have tried to create electronics that mimic biology. Now we let biology create the electronics for us,\u201d says Professor Magnus Berggren at the Laboratory for Organic Electronics, LOE, at Link\u00f6ping University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Linking electronics to biological tissue is important to understand complex biological functions, combat diseases in the brain, and develop future interfaces between man and machine. However, conventional bioelectronics, developed in parallel with the semiconductor industry, have a fixed and static design that is difficult, if not impossible, to combine with living biological signal systems.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>
<\/div><\/div>
Fontys visiting MIT: ‘Intersection between biology and technology is hot and happening here’<\/div>
The Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston is the most precious engineering university in the world. Hueting: “What they are working on there now, we will be working on in a few years”.<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

Conductive material<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Researchers have developed a method for creating soft, substrate-free, electronically conductive materials in living tissue to bridge this gap between biology and technology. By injecting a gel containing enzymes as the \u201cassembly molecules\u201d, the researchers were able to grow electrodes in the tissue of zebrafish and medicinal leeches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cContact with the body\u2019s substances changes the structure of the gel and makes it electrically conductive, which it isn\u2019t before injection. Depending on the tissue, we can also adjust the composition of the gel to get the electrical process going,\u201d says Xenofon Strakosas, researcher at LOE and Lund University and one of the study’s main authors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The body\u2019s endogenous molecules are enough to trigger the formation of electrodes. There is no need for genetic modification or external signals, such as light or electrical energy, which has been necessary in previous experiments. The Swedish researchers are the first in the world to succeed in this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their study paves the way for a new paradigm in bioelectronics. Where it previously took implanted physical objects to start electronic processes in the body, injection of a viscous gel will be enough in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fully integrated<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In their study, the researchers further show that the method can target the electronically conducting material to specific biological substructures. Therefore, it creates suitable interfaces for nerve stimulation. In the long term, the fabrication of fully integrated electronic circuits in living organisms may be possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Lund University, the team successfully achieved electrode formation in the brain, heart, and tail fins of zebrafish and around the nervous tissue of medicinal leeches. The animals were not harmed by the injected gel and were otherwise not affected by the electrode formation. One of the many challenges in these trials was to take the animals\u2019 immune system into account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy making smart changes to the chemistry, we were able to develop electrodes that were accepted by the brain tissue and immune system. The zebrafish is an excellent model for the study of organic electrodes in brains,\u201d says Professor Roger Olsson at the Medical Faculty at Lund University, who also has a chemistry laboratory at the University of Gothenburg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2583,"featured_media":523298,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":""},"categories":[34665],"tags":[44009,9758,129669,79239,129671,4261],"location":[54353],"internal_archives":[],"class_list":["post-438218","selected","type-selected","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-biology","tag-brein","tag-electrodes","tag-electronics","tag-living-tissue","tag-research","location-sweden"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":[],"featured_img":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Image.jpeg","coauthors":[],"author_meta":{"author_link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/author\/francesco-morelli\/","display_name":"Francesco Morelli"},"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 3 years ago","modified":"Updated 3 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on February 27, 2023","modified":"Updated on February 27, 2023"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on February 27, 2023 4:55 pm","modified":"Updated on February 27, 2023 4:55 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","tax_additional":{"category":{"linked":["Health<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Health<\/span>"],"slug":"category","name":"Categories"},"post_tag":{"linked":["biology<\/a>","brein<\/a>","Electrodes<\/a>","electronics<\/a>","Living Tissue<\/a>","research<\/a>"],"unlinked":["biology<\/span>","brein<\/span>","Electrodes<\/span>","electronics<\/span>","Living Tissue<\/span>","research<\/span>"],"slug":"post_tag","name":"Tags"},"language":{"linked":["EN<\/a>"],"unlinked":["EN<\/span>"],"slug":"language","name":"Tags"},"post_translations":{"linked":["pll_63fcd3ccf0939<\/a>"],"unlinked":["pll_63fcd3ccf0939<\/span>"],"slug":"post_translations","name":""},"location":{"linked":["Sweden<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Sweden<\/span>"],"slug":"location","name":"Locations"},"internal_archives":{"linked":[],"unlinked":[],"slug":"internal_archives","name":"Internal Archives"}},"series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/selected\/438218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/selected"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/selected"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2583"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438218"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=438218"},{"taxonomy":"internal_archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal_archives?post=438218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}