Enabling Electroceuticals

Abstract

Disorders affecting the health of millions have traditionally been treated using combinations of invasive surgery and then pharmacological interventions. While successful to a degree, surgery is both expensive and risky due to infection and malpractice. Additionally, developing new drugs for improving treatment is becoming increasingly difficult (less than 1 in 100 new drugs are approved/effective), and costs are spiraling toward \$1-10 billion per new drug. Bioelectronic interventions (so called electroceuticals) are already demonstrating significant impact in addressing impediments resulting from non-normative operation of the health of individuals. Treatments available currently via pharmaceuticals are necessarily systemic, flooding the patient’s system in hopes of affecting the area exhibiting difficulty. However, if a more granular discovery of affected tissues and equally focused application of treatment were possible, then therapies could be hyper-targeted towards treating the condition, let alone avoiding unwelcome side-effects from the pharmaceutical inundation. Electroceuticals, on the other hand, help monitor biological systems, providing real-time information for clinicians to diagnose obstacles that impede patients. Where appropriate the implanted medical device can then precisely modulate the biological systems via electrical, chemical, sonic, or heat effectors in order to enable the patient’s best life. The field has made rapid progress towards authentically achieving these goals in recent years. For all electroceuticals, three guidelines must confine general implant development: minimal invasiveness, safe continual operation, and sufficiency at the task of treating the condition. As the treatment efficacy and treated condition breadth has expanded though, the opposing pillars have begun to show strain. The next generation of electroceuticals will require a holistic approach to systems design that incorporates efficient, minimally invasive, wireless implants, and a singular focus on providing enabling, long-term functionality. The confluence of recent wireless technology developments and biomedical treatment needs has presented a unique opportunity to improve the lives of countless living beings. By untethering sensors and effectors from sources and improving signal fidelity, system efficiency, and cost accessibility. I believe that the modern conjunction of wireless power delivery, ultra-low power communication, and sub-mm component design will address the needs of bringing electroceutical based therapy to the masses. As such, this dissertation presents the culmination of efforts to produce a battery-free, wirelessly powered, wireless transceiver electroceutical for use in biomedical research and clinical settings.