Scientists Develop Dust Size Wireless Sensors That Can Be Implanted Inside The Human Body [VIDEO]

A team of engineers from the University of California, Berkeley, have reportedly developed tiny wireless sensors that can be easily implanted into the body. The researchers are hoping that the dust size wireless sensors will enable monitoring of nerves and internal organs in real time.

It is expected that the battery less sensors may also be used to stimulate nerves and muscles. The new technology might even pave way for electroceuticals for the treatment of disorders such as epilepsy, to stimulate the immune system as well as to reduce inflammation. The research team has already tested the technology by implanting the sensors in the muscles and peripheral nerves of lab rats, reported The Nation.

The sensor, which measures 1 millimeter in length around the size of a grain of sand, contains a piezoelectric crystal which converts ultrasound vibrations from outside the body into electric power via an integrated transistor that is in contact with the nerve or muscle fiber. The tiny device uses ultrasound for power and to read measurements taken.

Lead author of the study, Michel Maharbiz, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences, said that the long term prospects for the wireless sensors are not only within nerves and the brain but much broader. He added that until now there has been no way to put anything inside the body and access the in-body data. But, the newly developed sensor can now be implanted next to any nerve or organ, the gastrointestinal tract or a muscle to access data.

"The beauty is that now, the sensors are small enough to have a food application in the peripheral nervous system, for bladder control or appetite suppression, for example," said co-author Jose Carmena, reported Newsweek. The research team is planning to shrink down the size of the sensor further. They're looking forward to develop a version that's 50-micron target size- half the width of human hair. The research findings have been published in their findings in the journal Neuron.