By integrating microfluidic networks, nano-scale sensors, and electronics, researchers have created implantable, thread-like devices that can be sutured through several layers of tissue in 3-D to gather and send diagnostic data wirelessly as it happens.
Writing the journal Microsystems & Nanoengineering, the team - led by engineers from Tufts University in Medford, MA - says the new "smart thread" diagnostic platform could form the basis of a new generation of implantable medical diagnostics and smart wearable devices.
The paper describes the creation of microfluidic threads that can be sutured through several layers of tissue to sample fluid. The network of microfluidic circuits "interface intimately with biological tissues in three dimensions," note the authors.
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The microfluidic threads penetrate several layers to sample tissue fluid and channel it to sensing
threads that collect data, such as pH and glucose levels. Electrically conductive threads then
deliver the data to a flexible wireless transmitter that can be sited on top of the skin.
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Source: medicalnewstoday
