H2020Индивидуална стипендия2021–2024

Rachel · Organic actuators as a tool for understanding the tactile sense: toward virtual medical touch

„Хоризонт 2020“ — Действия „Мария Склодовска-Кюри“

Период: 2021-06-01 → 2024-05-31
Финансиране от ЕС: 269 998 €
Участници: 2
Схема: MSCA-IF

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Накратко на български

Нови биоелектронни материали се разработват, за да бъдат меки и разтегливи като човешката кожа и органите. Това помага за създаването на по-безопасни носими и имплантируеми устройства за здравеопазване, които не увреждат тъканите на тялото.

Този кратък обзор е генериран от изкуствен интелект

Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.

Резултати накратко

Organic actuators as a tool for understanding the tactile sense: toward virtual medical touch

Title: Tissue-like Bioelectronics: A Leap Towards Wearable Healthcare In our ever-evolving world, where technology is integrated into our daily lives, a revolutionary field called bioelectronics is quietly making strides. From our interactions with each other through media and phones to monitoring our health or even using wearable or implantable technologies for the treatment and diagnosis of certain conditions. This interdisciplinary domain brings together biology and electronics to create devices that interact with biological systems at the molecular, cellular, and organ levels. However, there is a big challenge when it comes to making electronic devices that can be placed on our skin or inside our bodies, like those used in healthcare or wearable technology. These devices need to be very soft, flexible, and stretchable just like our skin and organs. Mismatch with the skin or organ it contacts with often leads to device failure, tissue damage, or compromised functionality. The polyelectrolyte complex called poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (commonly known as PEDOT:PSS) is widely used in both organic electronics and bioelectronics. However, it is much stiffer than our skin or organs can handle. The most common way to make PEDOT:PSS more stretchable is by mixing it with certain substances like plasticizers, which are chemicals that can help it stretch. However, some of these substances might slowly come out of the material over time or when exposed to liquids, which could be harmful. The importance of this study for society lies in introducing novel materials with combined properties that have the potential to revolutionize the field of bioelectronics. This, in turn, could significantly advance the development of biocompatible wearable and implantable technologies for monitoring and treating diseases, personalized healthcare devices, neural interfaces, and bioelectronic prosthetics. Our overall objectives in this work were to synthesize an innovative stretchable and conductive block copolymer based on PEDOT:PSS, comprehensively characterize its properties, and demonstrate its applicability in bioelectronic devices for seamless integration with soft tissues and improved functionality.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз

Цел на проекта

The importance of the sense of touch in the biomedical sciences is difficult to overstate. Touch and palpation are critical for a range of clinical diagnostic and surgical procedures. The use of tactile feedback in virtual surgery may accelerate medical training and ultimately lead to superior patient outcomes. Technologies designed to manipulate the sense of touch are termed as “haptics”. In order to enable a future where haptics are used in biomedical devices, there is a need to answer fundamental questions arising from the sense of touch perception of humans, as well as to develop novel and smart materials that can transmit realistic tactile cues. One of the great challenges of existing—“off-the-shelf” —haptic actuators is that they are incapable of recapitulating the feeling of biological structures. In this proposal, I plan to adopt a new experimental paradigm based on organic materials (e.g., conductive polymers and liquid crystal elastomers) as haptic actuators capable of producing realistic tactile cues upon stimuli. In addition, fundamental questions related to the sensitivities and thresholds of human touch perception will be assessed for the first time using these materials in conjunction with psychophysical tests. Employing the expertise of the Lipomi lab in materials science and by collaboration with cognitive scientists, I will shed light on the physical and cognitive mechanisms underlying the perception of touch. This work will establish the design principles of organic actuators that may revolutionize technologies for remote care, such as for communities located in “healthcare deserts”, and wearable devices for physical and cognitive therapy.

Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).

Участници

TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY · Tel AvivКоординаторИзраел
THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA · OaklandСъединени щати