Wireless, flexible and battery-free implant for comfortable light delivery into deep tissue
Opportunity
From lasers in eye surgery to ultraviolet light at the dentist, light-based or optical therapies have made a huge impact on modern medicine. As indicated by their name, optical therapies deliver light into living tissues, triggering biochemical reactions. For instance, after surgery, light-sensitive drugs can be delivered to cancer cells remaining in deep tissues. Once activated by light, these drugs release anti-cancer compounds to the surrounding cancer cells. Known as photodynamic therapy, the same approach can also be used to kill harmful microorganisms.
Optical therapies can also be used to improve the healing of damaged tissue and intriguingly, control the behavior of cells through a technique called optogenetics. Despite the promise of optical therapies, current technologies in the market have several drawbacks. For instance, they typically require visible light, which has limited penetration through bodily tissues. Many are also powered by batteries that not only irritate surrounding tissues, but also require additional surgery for replacement. Addressing these key challenges through a novel method of delivering light wirelessly and deep should therefore open new opportunities for optical therapies in biomedicine and beyond.
Technology
This invention relates to the fabrication of a flexible, wireless and battery-free nanoparticle implant that can delivers light to deep tissues. This novel approach is based on a process called upconversion, where invisible light that can penetrate deep tissues, like near-infrared (NIR), is converted to visible light. Because the implant is hydrogel-based and coated in FDA-approved fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP), it is flexible and biocompatible—making the implant ideal for biomedical applications.
When the implant is embedded under the skin, it can wirelessly deliver light through two centimetres of synthetic tissue, even at a bent angle. It is also able to transmit upconversion light across a fixed macaque brain with a thickness of around seven centimetres. The current technology is based on 980 nm NIR, although another implant based on 800 nm NIR is under development. Ultimately, the implant offers many advantages over existing light-based therapies in terms of ease of use, biocompatibility and comfort level.
Our proprietary deep light flexible implantable is an excellent choice for wire-free deep tissue light delivery, for example, photodynamic therapy (A).Proprietary upconversion nanoparticles (B) are made into upconversion implantable (C), That can be activated tether-free even during bending (D). Our implants are customizable to different shapes and sizes to provide comfort to users when implanted underneath tissue (E).Upconversion implantable is applicable for wire-free deep light delivery in various tissue
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