A blog about what is new (and old) in the world of active implantable medical devices

Category Archives: Electrode Materials

What happened to the BION®?

Posted on by Posted in Advanced Bionics, Alfred E. Mann, Axonics, Bluewind Medical, Boston Scientific, Electrode Materials, General Stim, Incontinence, Muscular Stimulation, Nalu, Neural Stimulation, Neuspera, Paralysis, University of Southern California, Valencia Technologies
RF-powered Bion stimulator

First-generation RF-powered BION (RFB1) microstimulator. Image Credit: Alfred Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering

In 1991, Dr. Gerald Loeb, at the time a Professor of Physiology and Biomedical Engineering at Queen’s University (Kingston, Canada), first proposed a miniature, injectable, RF-powered device for the stimulation of tissue or motor neurons. The BION® device was developed based on this concept as a joint project between Queens University (Kingston, ON, Canada), IIT (Chicago, IL), and the Alfred E. Mann Foundation (Valencia, CA) with funding from the NIH Neural Prosthesis Program. The RF BION 1 (RFB1) was then manufactured by the Alfred Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering at USC.

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WISE s.r.l. Raises €1M to Develop Flexible Electrodes for Spinal Cord Stimulation

Posted on by Posted in Electrode Materials, Spinal Cord Stimulation

Supersonic Cluster Beam ImplantationWISE (Wiringless Implantable Stretchable Electronics), a Milan- and Berlin-based medical device companyraised a seed-round of € 1 M to advance the development of its first product aimed at the spinal cord stimulation market.

WISE’s technology relies on Supersonic Cluster Beam Implantation (SCBI) for the metallization of polymers and elastomers. SCBI allows to fabricate complex microelectronic circuits and interconnects on stretchable and conformable supports that preserve their electrical performances after extensive cycles of stretching and bending of the substrates. The devices can be efficiently fabricated on biocompatible platforms, and are therefore suitable for the production of implantable biomedical devices.

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Monash University in Australia Starts Test of Direct-to-Brain Visual Prosthesis Chips

Posted on by Posted in Blindness, Brain Stimulation, Electrode Materials, News, Tech Talk, Ultra-Low-Power ICs
Implantable chip for direct-to-brain visual prosthesis developed by Monash University. www.implantable-device.com

Image Credit: Monash Vision Group, Monash University, Australia

Engineers from the Monash Vision Group (MVG) have begun trialling the ASICs for a direct-to-brain visual prosthesis that is expected to enter human clinical trials in 2014.

The prosthesis will consist of a tiny camera mounted into a pair of glasses, which acts as the retina; a pocket processor, which takes the electronic information from the camera and converts it into signals enabling the brain to build up a visual construct; and cortical implants of several tiles which will be the portal for the stimulation of the visual cortex. Continue reading→

Biotectix

Posted on by Posted in Biotectix, Brain Stimulation, Cardiac Pacing, Electrode Materials, Electrodes, Tech Talk
Biotectix electrically conductive polymers for implantable devices
Image Credit: Biotectix

Biotectix of Ann Arbor, MI recently contacted me to let me know of new conductive polymer materials that they are developing to enhance the performance of next-gen implantable stimulation and sensing devices.

Indeed, their materials sound very promising.  According to Biotectix, their electrode coatings and device components are made from proprietary conducting polymers that provide intimate, long-term electrical and biological connections between implantable electrodes and the target tissue.  They offer the conductivity and stability of metals at a low-cost with the ease of processing and biological functionality of polymers. Continue reading→