Wireless, Battery-Free Micro-Chip Implants

µmedIC is a new technology fromMIT  for wireless, battery-free, and fully-integrated micro-implants. These micro-implants can reprogram themselves inside the body, and could open up new capabilities in early disease detection, drug delivery, and long-term monitoring. MIT researchers have designed, implemented, and evaluated µmedIC in different tissues, both in-vitro and ex-vivo. The implants can adapt to different surrounding tissues by shifting their resonance by more than 200 MHz. µmedIC harvests energy from wireless signals and communicates at net-zero power. The technology could be used for continuous monitoring of biomarkers and tumors, ultra-long lasting drug delivery systems, and closed-loop control systems with real-time feedback. The micro-chips consume as little as 350 nanoWatts and can transfer data up to 6 Megabits per second from inside the body.