3D-engineered muscle tissue as a wireless sensor
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Date
2023
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Thesis (M.S.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Science and Engineering, 2023.
Abstract
Implantable and wearable biomedical devices are advancing with new sensor technologies, holding great potential for early disease detection through continuous, real-time monitoring of physiological parameters. However, the majority of existing biomedical devices have limited lifetimes due to their power requirements and often focus on monitoring physical parameters rather than specific molecules relevant to specific diseases. The work detailed in this thesis proposes a wireless sensing and communication platform that can achieve in-vivo, real-time sensing at a molecular level by utilizing engineered mammalian cells. The proposed platform consists of a cell-based bio- hybrid implant device and a dual-port, wide-band on-body antenna. The molecular sensing is achieved by the bio-hybrid implant that is composed of three main components: a flexible scaffold, an in-body passive implant antenna, and 3D-engineered muscle tissue. The genetic circuitry of the cells that make up the 3D-engineered muscle tissue can be manipulated. This manipulation makes the tissue responsive to specific target molecules and the presence of these molecules triggers a contraction in the tissue. The tissue contraction and relaxation are used to reconfigure the resonance frequency of the implant antenna that is located on the flexible scaffold. To monitor the changes in resonance reconfiguration, the on- body reader antenna is positioned outside of the human body. The implant antenna’s resonance variations are observed in response to the presence of the molecule of interest. In this thesis, the bio-hybrid implant and the on-body reader antenna were designed and fabricated. The sensing system is mechanically and electromagnetically simulated. Based on the simulations, electromagnetic measurements were taken inside tissue-mimicking phantoms to track implant antenna reconfiguration.