We have many portable devices that can measure things like heart rate and fitness level. However, if you want to track internal health factors, things like blood tests are usually required. The company wants to make invasive tests a thing of the past.
Iota Biosciences has an idea that may just be the solution. They have developed a tiny biosensor, just 1 millimeter wide, about the size of a grain of rice, and hope to implant it in humans.
The idea is that instead of going to the hospital for medical tests when you get sick, tiny sensors are permanently placed inside your body. Doctors then have all the data they need to make a diagnosis right away by simply connecting to their doctor wirelessly and downloading the data.
The team, a product of the University of California, Berkeley, received $15 million in Series A investment. This should be of great help in establishing your company. The university was working on improving microelectrodes when co-founders Jose Carmena and Michel Mahlbiz came up with the idea. These are devices used in many medical and research settings to monitor and stimulate nerve and muscle tissue. However, these microelectrodes are not small at all. In fact, they are often connected to larger machines, so they are only connected to a person’s body for a few weeks at a time.
Their first attempt to build a wirelessly connected, self-powered sensor that could be placed inside the body involved radio frequencies, but hit a dead end. In the end, I switched to ultrasound. Because its wavelength is so small, it was possible to create an antenna that could remain large enough to accomplish its purpose. Additionally, signals pass through all different parts of the body, but RF cannot.
Iota Biosciences’ chip is so small that it can be attached to a single nerve or muscle fiber. When on, the tiny electrical current the chip sends is influenced by the electrical activity of the tissue it’s connected to, thereby providing the observer with data about how active and healthy the nerves and muscles are. Masu. But the main reason this is so interesting is because all of this data can be collected non-invasively.
However, FDA approval is required before this type of hardware can be approved. But if this passes, I can imagine people walking around with multiple of these indoors. And whenever a doctor’s visit is needed, remote testing can be just as effective as an in-person test, thanks to all the data at hand.
