The Journal of mHealth Vol 1 Issue 2 (Apr 2014) | Page 27

The Next Generation of Bio-engineered Health Sensor
Athletes and sports professionals
could conceivably be given the ability
to monitor key vital signs; chemical
build ups that could suggest fatigue or
stress; or, bio-sensors could be embedded in muscle tissue to monitor signs
of strain, damage, and rates of repair.
The telemetry from these embedded
devices could then be transmitted and
reviewed by the athlete and their trainers, allowing them to identify health
related issues, well before they would
otherwise be observed.
Google’s contact lens (one might call
this a hybrid bio-wearable falling somewhere between the wearable sensors
available today and the implantable
sensor of the future) and the research
from Washington University’s School
of Engineering & Applied Science
shows how this type of sensor could be
amalgamated into everyday life for the
more effective monitoring of chronic
disease conditions, and it is conceivable
that ultimately this could be applied to
all manner of other chronic conditions.
For example, sensors could be embedded into grafts on the wall of the kidney to monitor renal function and predict deterioration or failure.
In 2013 scientists at the EPFL (Ecole
Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne)
announced that they had developed
a tiny, portable personal blood testing laboratory: a minuscule device
implanted just under the skin provides
an immediate analysis of substances in
the body, and a radio module transmits
the results to a doctor over the cellular
phone network. This feat of miniaturisation has many potential applications,
including monitoring patients undergoing chemotherapy.
There are likely many defence and
industrial uses for the technology as
well. Workers in hazardous environments could be alerted to bio-hazards
via implantable sensors in the surface
of the skin; soldiers could be continually monitored for signs of injury or
reduction in performance.

The telemetry data itself also heralds a
new era in bio-analytics. Wearable technology has allowed this field to grow
significantly in recent years and this
looks set to continue with the advent
of bio-sensing and bio-telemetry. The
ability to stream data from vital organs
such as the heart could yield many
future options for real-time analysis
and evaluation of serious medical conditions.

Many of these devices are still in the
early stages of research and require significant work and clinical testing before
they would be patient ready.

Activity levels and dietary intake could
all be monitored from sensors embedded at a number of the points in the
body, feeding data to lifestyle and health
monitoring applications. Take a service
like dacadoo’s Health Score, which
already works with many of the wearable technologies currently available.
It is conceivable that internal sensing
could transmit data directly to a Smartphone or smart watch solution like this,
so that the solution could provide the
user with instant feedback and suggestions on their health and lifestyle.

For more information on the research
from the School of Engineering &
Applied Science of Washington University in St. Louis see our article in
this edition of The Journal titled: “3-D
Printer Creates Transformative Device
for Heart Treatment” on page 26.
For more information on the work of
Second Sight see the article in this edition of the Journal titled: “‘Bionic Eye’
Treatment for Retinitis Pigmentosa
Paving the Way for Artificial Sight” on
page 21. 

Whether we are looking at a future
where technology becomes integrated
within our bodies is indisputable, some
examples such as pace-makers have
been improving the lives of patients
for years. The real question is whether
people will be open to the greater integration of technology within their own
body? When sensors are printed onto
the surface of synthetic or laboratory
grown tissues and directly incorporated
into a part of the human body, then
the distinction between technology and
biology becomes much harder to make.

Have a
project you
want us to
cover?

This is a pioneering area of medical
research and holds many possibilities
for mHealth in the future.
There are, however, significant hurdles for this type of medical technology to overcome before it becomes
widely available. Not least, greater testing is required to consider the effects
that electrical sensors and transmitters
embedded within tissues, may have
upon other functions within the body.

That said a future where we all have
a small piece of technology working
away inside us and transmitting data
from within, is conceivably becoming
less of a science fiction prediction and
more of a real possibility.

Let us know the details
of any projects that you
would like us to cover
in upcoming editions
of The Journal. Send
the details to thejournalofmhealth@
simedics.org
The

Journal of mHealth
The Global Voice of mHealth

25
The Journal of mHealth