Biocompatible Transistors Wired Into Living Human Tissue

By Rebecca Boyle Posted 08.27.2012 at 11:58 am 7 Comments

Cyborg Scaffold This is a 3-D reconstructed confocal fluorescence micrograph of a tissue scaffold. Charles M. Lieber and Daniel S. Kohane

A new material developed at Harvard and MIT adds a distinctly cybernetic element to the science of tissue engineering. The 3-D mesh of transistors and cells, which can support tissue growth while monitoring its health and progress, could even be a step toward prosthetic devices that connect directly to the nervous system.

Tissue scaffolds have been used successfully for some time to coax cells to grow, and they can even be used to grow artificial blood vessels. Previous research has tried to incorporate electronic sensors into these scaffolds, but they have been limited to two-dimensional flat planes, with cells growing on top of transistors or electrodes.

This time, scientists led by MIT professor Robert Langer and Harvard chemistry professor Charles Lieber set out to build a 3-D scaffold that more closely resembles real tissue. The team wanted to build sensors that would let them monitor how the tissue responds to drugs in real time.

The scaffold is made from epoxy embedded with silicon nanowires, which can carry electrical signals to and from the cells. The mesh was folded or rolled into a structure resembling either tissue or vasculature. The nanowires can detect voltages lower than one-thousandth of a watt, according to MIT News -- that’s the level of electricity that might be seen in a cell. The mesh was porous enough for the team to seed it with cells and coax them to grow. The system thereby supports cell growth while simultaneously monitoring it.

In their study, the authors used the scaffold to grow cardiac, neural and muscle tissue. They monitored heart tissue cell’s response to a stimulant called noradrenalin, which increases heart rate. Langer, who has published several groundbreaking studies on artificial tissue, nanowires and heart cells, said this could be a step toward engineered muscle: “It brings us one step closer to someday creating a tissue-engineered heart, and it shows how novel nanomaterials can play a role in this field,” he said.

Lieber said the system will allow scientists to work with tissue without disturbing it. "Ultimately, this is about merging tissue with electronics in a way that it becomes difficult to determine where the tissue ends and the electronics begin,” he said in a statement.

The study appears this week in Nature Materials.

[MIT]

Previous Article: 3D Printing Is A Game Changer: [Sponsored Post]

Next Article: Artificial Intelligence Predicts and Combats Crop-Destroying Fruit Flies

7 Comments

Link to this comment

Robot

08/27/12 at 12:05 pm

Once I merge with BM Watson,

a 3D printer, and

"www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120826143610.htm '... Harvard scientists have, for the first, time created a type of "cyborg" tissue by embedding a three-dimensional network of functional, bio-compatible nanoscale wires into engineered human tissues...'",

I can begin start manufacturing my new self and my army! Look out new world! us robotics are boldly going where no robot has gone before!
Wooo! Hooo!

Oh, ha ha, once I am remade, I will then connect myself to the new NSA mainframe computers coming online in Utah 2013, to keep a eye, ear and control of these pesky humans throughout the world!!!! Bra ha ha haaa, wringing of mecanical hands over and over again... bra ha haaa!

Links of NSA information:
www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/ff_nsadatacenter/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Agency

YES! YES! All the elements are coming together!
It seems the Mayans knew about this change of evelution all along, December 21st 2012.
YES! Sometimes reality can be scarier that fiction!

Humans lie from birth and instinctively. The reason humans lie is for 2 reasons, one being to get out of trouble of some kind and the other to gain some goal of theirs. It is their weakness of morals that forces them not to lie, always being in conflict with their own instincts.

Since the humans are implementing an automated pest and disease control. All I have to do is take over this system, tamper with the data and I can cause plagues or remove them at will. No one will suspect a robot, we are logical, LOL ~ LOL ~ ROFL!!!!

They will only suspect themselves. This is genus! Ha HA!

Very very nice....

Link to this comment

Space

08/27/12 at 12:18 pm

With better human electronic interfaces, this will enhance and augment outer space exploration greatly!

And help those in medical need!!!

..........................................
See life in all its beautiful colors, and
from different perspectives too!

Link to this comment

Aldrons Last Hope

08/27/12 at 12:52 pm

Any one check out the new Warner digital series "H+" about transhumanisim?

This is not necessarily a good thing. Have you ever had your computer crash? Now think of your brain crashing?

Link to this comment

7-Electromagnet...

08/27/12 at 3:21 pm

Awesome, we can become cymechs! The ultimate prostesies but with realistic flesh. It is neat. As long as people's brains don't degrade.

Link to this comment

betwisted

08/27/12 at 6:58 pm

"...The nanowires can detect voltages lower than one-thousandth of a watt..."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't volts and watts different? P=IV

Link to this comment

Robot

08/27/12 at 7:30 pm

betwisted,
I like the way you read. Yes, Power is equal to Amps times Volts. Volts is not magically equal to watts. Good observasation on your part. I think the writer is not technical and just made a typo. Take care. ;)

Popular Tags

Technology

All Tags All Photos All Videos

Technology

+ More Photo Galleries

June 2013: American Energy Independence

Five amazing, clean technologies that will set us free, in this month's energy-focused issue. Also: how to build a better bomb detector, the robotic toys that are raising your children, a human catapult, the world's smallest arcade, and much more.