Spurred by decades of success with pacemakers and cochlear implants, and by advances in miniaturized technology, interest is surging in electroceuticals that stimulate nerves to treat disease. This mainly encompasses technological advancements in the field of cardiac, cochlear, retinal, central nervous system and peripheral nervous system implants. However, implementing bioelectronics as a primary or complementary treatment for cancer has also garnered momentum in the recent years.

The evolving momentum is due to the modest knowledge in basic biological functions of cancer, at a cellular level. This lack of in depth understanding of its physiology significantly limits the development of new, targeted and more effective treatment strategies. The emergence of innovative composite materials, comprising different morphologies and designs are of utmost importance to interface, probe, decode, and modulate cancer cells signalling in for example 3D solid tumour models, such as spheroids and organoids - for recreating tumorigenesis in vitro.

Bioelectricity seeks to become an important biophysical indicator beyond cancer physiology. Biomaterials may be applied to monitor and/or modulate communication within other electroactive microorganisms such as bacteria and algae, with the aim of developing new microelectronic technologies, eventually AI-assisted, capable of recreating and controlling metabolic and signalling pathways on-a-chip.

The scope of this interdisciplinary symposium is to deliver a setting for discussion on the field of bioelectricity in living microbe-inspired materials. The symposium englobes and seeks to bridge the disciplines of materials science, physics, electronics, bioinformatics, and biology to enable the development of next-generation of biomaterials and devices.

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