Stanford Engineer Creates Electroceutical Device To Fight Illness

Stanford assistant professor of electrical engineering Ada Poon has developed a wireless system that can transfer energy to the rice-sized chips in various electronic medical devices, including pacemakers, nerve stimulations, sensors, and other devices which have not yet been developed. Poon has stated that her wireless system uses the same power as a cell phone, and the energy transmitted will be safe. Poon believes that her system can replace the need for large batteries and cumbersome recharging systems that stop medical devices from being more widely adapted in medical treatment. She also believes that the use of electronic devices can eventually replace some forms of drug treatment.

For example, Ada Poon’s engineering team built an electronic device that was smaller than a grain of rice to act as a pacemaker. The device can also be powered and recharged wirelessly when a power source the size of a credit card is held near the device on the outside of the body.

Poon’s biggest discovery is how to wirelessly transfer power deep into the body safely. Tests by an independent laboratory that evaluates cell phone safety found that Poon’s system was well within safe ranges of human exposure. Poon’s team has already used the wireless system inside of a pig and to power a pacemaker inside of a rabbit. She is preparing the system to be tested in humans in the near future, however, it is expected to take years to test the device for all safety and efficacy requirements required by U.S. regulators.

William Newsome, the director of Stanford Neurosciences Institute, said that “electroceutical” treatments could eventually be a replacement for certain drugs. “To make electroceuticals practical, devices must be miniaturized, and ways must be found to power them wirelessly, deep in the brain, many centimeters from the surface,” he said. “The Poon lab has solved a significant piece of the puzzle for safely powering implantable microdevices, paving the way for new innovation in this field.”