Cutting Edge Examples of Medical Device-on-a-Chip

April 27, 2018

Maysam Ghovanloo, PhD

GT-Bionics Lab, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology

For medical devices that need to be implanted or positioned inside the human body to deliver a therapy, size and functionality are among the most important parameters, affecting key aspects of the device, such as feasibility, level of invasiveness, side effects, and safety, ability to reach the desired anatomical target, and efficacy in carrying out intended functions, such as imaging, recording biological parameters, delivering drugs, or applying stimuli, or a combination of these as part of a medical intervention. on the On the other hand, microelectronic devices, integrated circuit design, and system-level architectures have advanced to the point that combining multiple functions in a variety of domains from low noise analog readout, to on-chip digital processing, RF connectivity, power management, and precise control of physical outputs on a monolithic piece of silicon has become quite routine, in an approach referred to as the system-on-a-chip (SoC). In this talk, I will present a few examples of applying the well-established SoC technology towards design and development of cutting edge medical devices that are fit to be implanted or delivered inside the body, while being supported by system blocks outside of the body, to either create de novo medical interventions or significantly improve the existing therapies. I refer to these as the medical device-on-a-chip (MDoC) approach, and also propose the pathway towards design concept, preliminary steps, and evaluation plans for new MDoC technologies that would enable new therapies and interventions that are not feasible today.

Published on April 27th, 2018Last updated on April 26th, 2018