Implant Antenna Reconfigured by Engineered Skeletal Muscle Tissue

Synthetic biology opens new research opportunities for a brand-new generation of sensing systems and devices. With advancements in this area, it is now possible to realize living devices that can undertake sensing at a molecular level. However, the utilization of these devices inside the human body has never been achieved. Moreover, the wireless transfer of the data that the living devices collect remains an open challenge. This work presents a novel bio-hybrid implant that can achieve molecular sensing and wireless communication. The implant consists of an in-body antenna and skeletal muscle tissue. The skeletal tissue is engineered to contract in the presence of molecules of interest. The implant antenna is designed around the engineered tissue to be mechanically deformed as the contraction takes place. This deformation changes the resonance behavior of the implant antenna, which is detected by an on-body antenna. The proposed sensing system is novel in integrating engineered living cells with an implant antenna for wireless real-time monitoring of chemicals in-vivo, as well as a novel in the utilization of skeletal muscle tissue for bio-sensing.