An innovative transistor for medical bioelectronic devices was created

Scientists and engineers in the US, led by a Greek postdoctoral researcher, have developed an innovative ion transistor for use in bioelectronic devices.

ΤThe new transistor allows real-time detection and processing of body signals, important for creating bioelectronic devices with applications in the brain and other parts of the body.

Increasingly, medicine - especially neurology and neuroscience - is basing its advances on electronic systems capable of recruiting, processing, and interacting with biological systems. These bioelectronic systems, which are used both to better understand the body and to treat disease, require components that can monitor the body's signals.

At the core of such bioelectronic systems are transistors. However, to date, scientists have not been able to make transistors that meet all the necessary conditions for use in the human body, such as being safe, reliable, fast and durable for a long time.

The collaborating researchers of the School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, the Medical Center, the Department of Neurology and the Institute of Genomic Medicine at Columbia University in New York, led by Dr. George Spyropoulos and the Assistant Professor published in the journal Science Advances, they developed the first biocompatible ion transistors, which is fast enough to detect and process signals in real time in the brain.

The organic electrochemical transistor (IGT), which works by moving ions through a conductive polymer channel, provides a tiny, soft interface to human skin. Thanks to the new transistor, from completely biodegradable materials, it is now possible to make safer, smaller and "smarter" bioelectronic devices, such as brain-machine (computer) interfaces, electronics worn on the body and therapeutic devices implanted in the body.

Traditional silicon transistors tested on bioelectronic devices must be carefully encapsulated so that they do not come into contact with body fluids for the safety of both humans and the device. This makes these transistors and their bioelectronic devices more bulky and rigid.

On the other hand, flexible plastic transistors are not fast enough to be utilized in neurophysiology applications. The new transistor is considered superior to the pre-existing ones and will be easier to use in biomedicine.

George Spyropoulos graduated from the Department of Materials Science and Technology of the University of Crete and received his PhD from the German Friedrich Alexander Erlangen-Nuremberg University. His postdoctoral research in the United States focuses on "translational neuroelectronics" and specifically on the development of neural interface devices based on organic electronics.

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