BioNet: a distributed network of bioelectronic devices for closed-loop control of physiological processes

Bioelectronic medicine promises to dramatically improve human health and performance by regulating physiological states in a patient-specific way using tight feedback control not possible with traditional pharmaceuticals or biomaterials. Many biomedical applications require or benefit from a distributed system that coordinates sensing and stimulation between distant locations in the body. However, key barriers currently limit the development and deployment of such a bioelectronic system, including: unreliable or obtrusive approaches to power and data transmission, poor tissue-device integration eliciting adverse biological responses, and challenges in application-specific system integration. Convergence research is therefore required to create distributed bioelectronic networks that seamlessly integrate into the body and coordinate bio-sensing and actuation in a way that supports sophisticated closed-loop control. This program will bring together circuit design, biomaterials, nanotechnology, and wireless network research to create a wireless, distributed bioelectronic network that can regulate physiological functions using implanted biohybrid motes. These miniature, free-standing motes will integrate with tissue through conducting polymer composites and thin film electronics to stimulate/record physiological processes. They will reliably communicate at low power without practical limitations on location and orientation using magnetoelectric transducers and custom hardware. This “BioNet” of distributed motes represents a platform technology towards a powerful new class of in-body bioelectronic systems. We will integrate diverse engineering and scientific domains in order to achieve the BioNet using convergence research and co-design and will demonstrate operation, function, and the potential for broad applicability through an application testbed of in vivo peripheral nerve injury repair.