Additive Manufacturing of Optically Readable Elements Directly In Vivo For Human Augmentation

Hardy, John and Fong, James and Baldock, Sara and Cheneler, David and Appleby, John (2025) Additive Manufacturing of Optically Readable Elements Directly In Vivo For Human Augmentation. In: Human Augmentation Annual Conference - Evidence Based Decision Making, 2025-02-11 - 2025-02-11, 18 St Andrews Road.

Abstract

The ability to produce structures (e.g., electronics, optically readable elements) inside living organisms via additive manufacturing is a game-changing step towards personalised medical interventions (e.g., bioelectronics, human-machine interfaces, ID tags). Our research supported by EPSRC and Dstl has the potential to deliver disruptive innovation for bioscience and engineering via the development and exploitation of a new manufacturing approach for electronics/ID pioneered at Lancaster University. We have printed flexible electronics and demonstrated their application as neural electrodes with collaborators at University College, London. Our technological leap offers us the ability to print electronic devices and QR codes integrated inside living organisms (e.g., integrated into humans, animals, plants and fungi). Living biomaterials sensing information: Natural living tissues (i.e., biomaterials) are used for sensing. In mammals the sensory nervous system is an excellent example of this, employing neurons receiving information from the environment which are known as primary sensory neurons (including chemoreceptors, mechanoreceptors, nociceptors, photoreceptors, thermoreceptors); plants and fungi are also well known to have sensory systems (generating various types of intracellular and intercellular electrical signals mostly in the form of action and variation potentials in response to environmental changes). Clearly printing electronic components in living tissues may offer a means of recording/stimulating activity in those tissues, and potentially a method of enabling this information to be transmitted to another living organism. Optically readable elements (e.g., QR codes): Barcodes represent data in a simple visual, machine-readable form. Linear barcodes (one-dimensional (1D) barcodes) represent data using parallel lines with varying widths/sizes/spacings, encoding information specific to the item displaying it; two-dimensional (2D) barcodes were subsequently developed (employing dots, hexagons, rectangles, etc.), and quick-response codes (QR codes) are a type of 2D barcode that are information rich (with varying degrees of inbuilt error correction) enabling, for instance, object identification, location and product/time/web-tracking. Our technological leap offers us the ability to print QR codes inside living organisms (e.g., integrated in humans/animals/plants/fungi). QR codes integrated in organisms may facilitate healthcare for the organism, including surgical procedures (e.g., identifying allergies, blood type, patient names and medical records) in civilian/military scenarios (e.g., surgery on the front line in austere medical environments) and moreover in veterinary applications (health of livestock, pets) in civilian/military scenarios. Furthermore, QR codes may enable identification of controllers/drivers/pilots for machinery/vehicles in civilian/military scenarios.