Researchers at MIT, Draper, an engineering firm, and Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital have developed an electronic wireless device that can stay inside the gut for long periods of time while releasing drugs into the body and measuring various parameters. The device has Bluetooth connectivity built in, and it can share its readings and trigger the release of a drug via a coupled smartphone app.
The swallowable device can stay in the body for over a month and it can be manufactured to different specifications since it’s 3D printed. Moreover, it can be programmed so that the measurements that its sensors make can trigger a drug to be administered, allowing for immediate treatment of symptoms of allergies, infections, and other conditions. “Our system could provide closed-loop monitoring and treatment, whereby a signal can help guide the delivery of a drug or tuning the dose of a drug,” said Giovanni Traverso, a researcher involved in a study published in journal Advanced Materials Technologies.
Once the device is swallowed, which initially looks like a pill, its arms, unfold and prevent it from exiting the stomach. After about a month or so, the arms break off and the individual parts of the device can safely exit the body.
Study in Advanced Materials Technologies: 3D‐Printed Gastric Resident Electronics…
Via: MIT…