This capsule combines living cells with very low power electronic components. It has been possible to verify that this sensor is able to detect hemorrhages in the stomach.
This capsule is not made from chemical synthesis, like usual pharmaceuticals. He also has no intention of treating any illness. Its purpose is to express digestive problems.
For now, this electronic chip has been designed to be swallowed only with pigs, but the results have been very promising. Mark Mimeen, one of the founders of the sensor, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States, "was challenging to detect bleeding only by swallowing the capsule."
To give patients a leap, engineers were trying to reduce the size of the sensor first (the current measures 3.81 centimeters) and investigate how long the bacterial cells that travel in the capsule they can survive in the digestive tract. The idea is also "to diagnose other gastrointestinal diseases, in addition to bleeding," says Mime.
According to an article published by Science magazine, the secret of this chip combines the creation of powerful cells with potentiates with very low electronic components. "In this way, we can detect biological signals that become wireless responses in the body, almost in real time," adds Timothy Luk, a professor of biological engineering, computer science and biology, at the MIT.
For other diseases
Focusing on a very specific agitation, a gastrointestinal bleeding disorder, the MIT engineer team designed a probiotic crash of E. coli, which is able to give a signal when it is encountered with a blood component called hemo. This bacteria was placed in four wells of a 3.81-centimeter sensor, covered by a semi-insulated membrane that allowed small molecules of digestive tract to spread.
There is a phototransistor beneath each well, which can measure the amount of light produced by bacterial cells and send information to a microprocessor, which sends a wireless signal to a nearby computer or telephone.
"The goal of this work is to combine system design and integration with the bacterial detection power of very low power circuits to perform important health screening applications," says Anantha Chandrakasan, one of the founders of the device.
Digestive level, says Javier Crespo, chief of the digestive hospital of the Marqués de Valdecilla (Santander) Hospital, "the devices of this kind help determine the profiles of patients with irritable intestinal syndrome, depending on myobiota type."
In pigs, this sensor has proven that it could be determined whether it was blood in the stomach. Therefore, the door opens up to detect other diseases to detect different diseases.