Growth-Adaptive Biodevices for Pediatric Electronic Medicine

The human body is a dynamic system that undergoes complex morphological changes over a broad time scale. Biological tissues, such as cardiac and nerve tissues, are in constant movement and their size grows dramatically from infancy to adolescence. Current implantable bioelectronics fail to accommodate rapid tissue growth and therefore are not suitable for pediatric patients. In this talk, I will discuss a new type of electronics, namely, morphing electronics that self-adapt with growing organs <i>in vivo </i>without asserting restraining forces. To meet the electronic and mechanical requirement of morphing electronics, we rationally designed and introduced a new class of electronic materials termed “viscoplastic electronic materials” that exhibit necessary strain-rate dependency so that they can permanently deform (i.e. morphing) at a slow strain rate (comparable to the rate of tissue growth), while remain intimately contact with tissue at high strain rate to accommodate body/organ movement. We demonstrate in a rat model that the morphing electronics provide chronic <i>in vivo</i> neurological stimulation and recording for the entire adolescent developmental period with excellent biocompatibility and stable device performance. Besides, morphing electronics is capable of self-healing during surgical procedure. Morphing electronics creates a new avenue for adaptive pediatric electronics medicine and enables seamless interrogation of neural development from the beginning of life to adulthood. &lt;!--![endif]----&gt;