Polymer Bioelectronics for High Resolution Implantable Devices
Lead Research Organisation:
Imperial College London
Department Name: Bioengineering
Abstract
When bioelectronic devices such as cochlear implants, bionic eyes, brain-machine interfaces, nerve block stimulators and cardiac pacemakers are implanted into the body they induce an inflammatory response that is difficult to control. Metals used historically for these types of devices (for instance platinum/iridium in cardiac pacemakers) are both stiff and inorganic. Consequently these implants are tolerated by the body rather than integrated and the device is often walled off in a scar tissue capsule. As a result high powered and unsafe currents are required to activate tissues and produce a therapeutic response. This limitation has prevented the development of high resolution bionic devices that can improve patient quality of life (for example by enabling improved perception of sound for cochlear implant users).
This research programme will bring together concepts from tissue engineering, polymer design and bionic device technologies to develop soft and flexible polymer bioelectronics. A range of novel conductive biomaterials will be used to either coat conventional devices or fabricated as free-standing fully organic electrode arrays from conductive polymers (CPs), hydrogels, elastomers and native proteins. The electrode array stiffness will be matched to that of nerve tissue and the polymer components will be biofunctionalised to improve cell interactions, prevent rejection and minimise scar formation.
Coating technologies will be assessed as a pathway to modifying existing commercial devices in collaboration with industry partners, Galvani Bioelectronics and Boston Scientific. Ultimately, the research programme will demonstrate safety and efficacy of polymeric electrode arrays using protocols defined by medical device regulatory bodies. Collaboration with industry partners will ensure that outcomes are relevant to the market and directly translatable while engaging key stakeholders.
Polymer bioelectronics will be a ground breaking step towards safer neural cell stimulation, which is more compatible with tissue survival and regeneration. High resolution electrode arrays based on polymer technologies will create a paradigm shift in biomedical electrode design with tremendous impact on healthcare worldwide.
This research programme will bring together concepts from tissue engineering, polymer design and bionic device technologies to develop soft and flexible polymer bioelectronics. A range of novel conductive biomaterials will be used to either coat conventional devices or fabricated as free-standing fully organic electrode arrays from conductive polymers (CPs), hydrogels, elastomers and native proteins. The electrode array stiffness will be matched to that of nerve tissue and the polymer components will be biofunctionalised to improve cell interactions, prevent rejection and minimise scar formation.
Coating technologies will be assessed as a pathway to modifying existing commercial devices in collaboration with industry partners, Galvani Bioelectronics and Boston Scientific. Ultimately, the research programme will demonstrate safety and efficacy of polymeric electrode arrays using protocols defined by medical device regulatory bodies. Collaboration with industry partners will ensure that outcomes are relevant to the market and directly translatable while engaging key stakeholders.
Polymer bioelectronics will be a ground breaking step towards safer neural cell stimulation, which is more compatible with tissue survival and regeneration. High resolution electrode arrays based on polymer technologies will create a paradigm shift in biomedical electrode design with tremendous impact on healthcare worldwide.
Planned Impact
This research programme investigates new healthcare technologies, taking materials and device development from the bench through to preclinical studies. The engineering of new polymer bioelectronics will impact the scientific community, the medical device industry and the wider community including bionic device recipients. The major outcome of this research will be high resolution electrode arrays fabricated from polymer bioelectronic materials. These technologies will improve function and biocompatibility of devices, finding application across a range of active implantable medical devices including cochlear implants, bionic eyes, brain-machine interfaces, nerve block stimulators and cardiac pacemakers. Ultimately, this could mean the capacity for a cochlear implant user to hear music or source sounds within a crowded room. Alternately, it is a technology that will enable the development of new devices, such as high resolution bionic eyes that enable recipient to recognise facial features and read books. Impact will be facilitated through communication approaches and commercialisation efforts to ensure research outcomes are translated beyond the laboratory to benefit of the community.
A comprehensive communication strategy will ensure that research outcomes will be disseminated within the scientific community and used to grow interest in the research field, making evident the excellence of research occurring within the UK. Direct engagement with industry partners Galvani Bioelectronics (previously GlaxoSmithKline Bioelectronics) and Boston Scientific, will facilitate impact within the industry, directly communicating benefits to key stakeholders and growing economic interest in cutting edge technologies. Support from these two multinational companies will create impact within the medical device market and assist in networking to create new collaborations. Public journal or medical news commentaries and engagement within public forums will generate impact with government and patient representative bodies. Educational impacts provided by workshops and ICL events targeted at UK schools will raise the profile of engineering and science, increasing awareness of these exciting educational opportunities and career pathways.
From inception of the research programme, close collaboration with clinicians and industry will drive translational efforts towards commercial outcomes that benefit implant recipients. Studies that demonstrate the benefit of polymer bioelectronics will be focused on applications that are relevant to the industry partners. Materials developed within this research programme will be designed to interface with existing implant technologies (such as implantable processors and other electronics). Performance characteristics critical to patient expectations will be used as metrics and sourced from clinical collaborators. These approaches will create commercial impacts by reducing the risk of partner investment and paving a clear path to regulatory approvals. The PI team will also generate patents, raise funds and ultimately create a start-up company to directly provide new polymer bioelectronics to the medical device market.
A comprehensive communication strategy will ensure that research outcomes will be disseminated within the scientific community and used to grow interest in the research field, making evident the excellence of research occurring within the UK. Direct engagement with industry partners Galvani Bioelectronics (previously GlaxoSmithKline Bioelectronics) and Boston Scientific, will facilitate impact within the industry, directly communicating benefits to key stakeholders and growing economic interest in cutting edge technologies. Support from these two multinational companies will create impact within the medical device market and assist in networking to create new collaborations. Public journal or medical news commentaries and engagement within public forums will generate impact with government and patient representative bodies. Educational impacts provided by workshops and ICL events targeted at UK schools will raise the profile of engineering and science, increasing awareness of these exciting educational opportunities and career pathways.
From inception of the research programme, close collaboration with clinicians and industry will drive translational efforts towards commercial outcomes that benefit implant recipients. Studies that demonstrate the benefit of polymer bioelectronics will be focused on applications that are relevant to the industry partners. Materials developed within this research programme will be designed to interface with existing implant technologies (such as implantable processors and other electronics). Performance characteristics critical to patient expectations will be used as metrics and sourced from clinical collaborators. These approaches will create commercial impacts by reducing the risk of partner investment and paving a clear path to regulatory approvals. The PI team will also generate patents, raise funds and ultimately create a start-up company to directly provide new polymer bioelectronics to the medical device market.
Publications
Green R
(2018)
Are 'next generation' bioelectronics being designed using old technologies?
in Bioelectronics in Medicine
Cuttaz E
(2019)
Conductive elastomer composites for fully polymeric, flexible bioelectronics.
in Biomaterials science
Goding J
(2019)
Considerations for hydrogel applications to neural bioelectronics
in Journal of Materials Chemistry B
Chapman C
(2020)
Actively controlled local drug delivery using conductive polymer-based devices
in Applied Physics Letters
Novikov A
(2020)
Stretchable bioelectronics: Mitigating the challenges of the percolation threshold in conductive elastomers
in APL Materials
Cuttaz EA
(2021)
Flexible Nanowire Conductive Elastomers for Applications in Fully Polymeric Bioelectronic Devices.
in Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual International Conference
Portillo-Lara R
(2021)
Mind the gap: State-of-the-art technologies and applications for EEG-based brain-computer interfaces.
in APL bioengineering
Green R
(2021)
Possibilities in bioelectronics: Super humans or science fiction?
in APL Bioengineering
Chapman C
(2021)
Flexible Networks of Patterned Conducting Polymer Nanowires for Fully Polymeric Bioelectronics
in Advanced NanoBiomed Research
Cuttaz EA
(2021)
Stretchable, Fully Polymeric Electrode Arrays for Peripheral Nerve Stimulation.
in Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)
Description | 1.Development of new advanced materials for soft and stretchable implants. 2. Manufacturing processes to make neural implants from conductive elastomers 3. Data showing the function of new implants on nerve |
Exploitation Route | Currently IP is being licensed into a start up. |
Sectors | Electronics Healthcare Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
Description | The technologies developed are being translated to a start-up in consultation with the Imperial technology transfer office. Polymer Bionics Ltd is a company developing conductive elastomer based medical devices with through a license with Imperial College. The PhD student who was working on the grant is now employed in the company and clinical collaborations are being developed to support translation. The company and research group have a collaborative grant with Innovate UK to develop these technologies. |
First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
Sector | Healthcare,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
Impact Types | Societal Economic |
Description | Future perspectives of Neural Interface Ecosystems organised by the Royal Society |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
Description | iHuman: Blurring lines between mind and machine |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
URL | https://royalsociety.org/-/media/policy/projects/ihuman/report-neural-interfaces.pdf |
Description | Innovate UK Smart Grants: January 2022 |
Amount | £1,015,488 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 10034462 |
Organisation | Innovate UK |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2022 |
End | 10/2025 |
Description | Galvani Bioelectronics |
Organisation | Galvani Bioelectronics Ltd |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | The team has had 4 meetings with Galvani Bioelectronics personnel. Two at their facilities, one at Imperial College and one via Skype. All meetings have revolved around commensurate experimental setups to enable data to be cross compared between the industry partner laboratory and the PI laboratory. The PI team have made advisory recommendations about obtaining in vivo data and highlighting areas where technology developed in the grant will improve commercial outcomes. |
Collaborator Contribution | Galvani Bioelectronics have provided support for project licence details and recommended areas where adverse events in animals during these experiments may impact on the data. This has enabled us to produce a schedule of experiments aligned with Galvani and ensure ethical and robust studies. |
Impact | Invitation for Dr Green to speak at the Royal Society one day symposium on "Bioelectronics Therapies - Past, Present and Future". This event is being organised by the Society of Medicines Research, and I was invited by Dr Mike Hann, GSK Senior Fellow and Director (Galvani parent company). |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | NeuroMod+: Co-creation for next-generation neuromodulation therapeutics |
Organisation | University of Oxford |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | My research team has contributed to the concept of the network, with discussions on the content, mainly in relation to NISNEM technologies. |
Collaborator Contribution | Rylie Green, co-I in NISNEM, is co-I in this network proposal and extensively contributed to the conceptualization of the network focus. The network will focus on addressing the challenge of minimally invasive treatments for brain disorders, including non-invasive methods developed in NISNEM for monitoring and treating. The network has just been accepted for funding and includes new collaborations with the University of Oxford, the University of Nottingham and the University of Edinburgh. This network and the other newly funded EPSRC Network+ on Neurotechnology for enabling community-based diagnosis and care (see separate item in this section of the report) cover two fundamental core areas of NISNEM - treatment and diagnosis of neurological disorders - and will be essential in accelerating the dissemination of NISNEM technologies. |
Impact | This network will commence this year. We will update on the outputs in the following reports. |
Start Year | 2021 |
Title | Fabrication of fully organic electrode arrays based on conductive elastomers |
Description | This novel technique produces a conductive elastomer composite with high conductivity and flexibility by solvent casting PEDOT:PSS dispersed in dissolved polyurethane. |
Type Of Technology | New/Improved Technique/Technology |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Impact | The publication describing this technique has been cited 21 times so far, hence providing new perspectives and knowledge to the scientific community working in soft and flexible bioelectronics research. The technique is also being used and further developed by members of our research team. |
URL | https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2019/BM/C8BM01235K#!divAbstract |
Title | Method to produce a stretchable, conductive elastomer composite with low conductive polymer content. |
Description | Conductive elastomers (CEs) are materials composed of conductive polymers (CPs) embedded in an elastomeric matrix. This novel technique consists of filling a CP aerogel with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to form a stretchable, conductive material with much lower CP content than previous methods. |
Type Of Technology | New/Improved Technique/Technology |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Impact | The usual methods to fabricate CE composites necessitate a high CP loading, leading to the degradation of mechanical properties. This novel technique provides a method of reducing CP content in CE composites, thereby improving their mechanical properties, and opening an array of new possibilities for the future research and development of such materials. |
URL | https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0005410 |
Company Name | Polymer Bionics |
Description | Polymer Bionics manufactures materials for electrodes, with an aim at improving the durability bionic devices |
Year Established | 2021 |
Impact | The company is in very early stages and is currently applying for funding. |
Website | https://www.polymerbionics.com/home |
Description | Interview for HerImperial |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | I gave an interview for HerImperial, published on Imperial College's website, to talk about my current research and about the involvement of women in biotechnology. The article is accessible to the general public and is likely to be read by Imperial students, thereby encouraging female students to consider careers in bioengineering and informing students about my research. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/her-imperial/profiles/current-staff/dr-rylie-green/ |
Description | Interview for Tech for Good bulletin |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | I gave an interview for the Tech for Good digital bulletin to explain my research to the general public and give my opinion of the future of bioelectronics. The article is published online without a paywall, hence it is accessible to a wide audience and contributes to stimulating interest in our field of research as well as improving the general public's understanding of scientific research. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.techforgood.net/Features/TechForGood/2020/September/social-goodsep20/march-of-the-cyborg... |
Description | Nuffield Council on Bioethics workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The Bioethics in focus workshops held by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics facilitate multidisciplinary discussions with experts and stakeholders to identify potential ethical issues in specific topics. I participated in the workshop titled "The human-technology frontier: biohacking, cyborgs, and wearables". The outcome of these discussions contribute to the Council's mission of informing policy and public debate about ethical questions in biomedical research. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Poster presentation at BioMedEng 2019 by Ms Cuttaz |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Poster titled "Conductive elastomers for soft and flexible bioelectronics" presented at the BioMedEng 2019 conference held at Imperial College London. This presentation stimulated interest in flexible bioelectronics research as the conference was attended by over 500 students and researchers from 67 universities, and 32 companies and organisations. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Presentation at IEEE Nano 2020 by Ms Cuttaz |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presentation titled "Nanowires-based conductive elastomers for fully polymeric flexible bioelectronics" given online for the IEEE Nano 2020, which is one of the largest conferences on nanoscience and nanotechnology. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://ieeetv.ieee.org/ondemand/nanowire-based-conductive-elastomers-for-fully-polymeric-flexible-b... |
Description | Presentation at the Materials Research Society 2018 forum by Ms Cuttaz |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presentation titled "Tailoring Properties of Polymer Bioelectronics through Blends" given at the MRS forum in Boston in 2018, which prompted further questions and discussion on the material properties of polymeric bioelectrodes. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Presentation at the World Biomaterials Congress 2020 by Dr. Goding |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presentation titled "Soft and Flexible Bioelectronic Devices" at the World Biomaterials Congress, one of the largest materials conferences in the world. The presentation prompted further questions and discussion on the topic of flexible organic electrodes for medical applications. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Presentation at the World Biomaterials Congress 2020 by Dr. Syed |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presentation titled "Developing a Ex Vivo Rat Sciatic Nerve Model to Evaluate the Performance of Commercial and Lab-made Peripheral Nerve Cuffs" given at the World Biomaterials Congress 2020, which prompted further questions and discussion on the use of ex vivo models to reduce animal suffering in biomedical and bioelectronics research. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Presentation at the World Biomaterials Congress 2020 by Mr. Novikov |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presentation titled "Gel-based elastic conductors for soft bioelectronics applications" at the World Biomaterials Congress, one of the largest materials conferences in the world. The presentation prompted further questions and discussion on the topic of soft bioelectronics. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Presentation at the World Biomaterials Congress 2020 by Ms Cuttaz |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presentation titled "Fully polymeric nanowire-based conductive elastomers for soft and flexible bioelectronic devices" given at the World Biomaterials Congress 2020, which prompted further questions and discussion on the use of conductive elastomers for medical electrode applications. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Seminar on Polymer bioelectronics given at University of Cambridge |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Students from Cambridge's department of Materials Science attended the talk, which stimulated interest in polymer electronics research and sparked questions and discussions around my field of research. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | http://talks.cam.ac.uk/talk/index/120952 |