3D-Engineered Muscle Tissue as a Wireless Sensor: AntennAlive [Bioelectromagnetics]

Synthetic biology has the potential to drastically change sensor technologies. Living cells can now be genetically programmed to be responsive to specific molecules. If those living cells are supported to live inside a host body, in vivo sensing at a molecular level can be achieved. However, the communication link between the genetically modified cells and the outside of the host body is an open area of research. Here, we propose a generic wireless communication platform that we call
AntennAlive
to bridge this gap. The link described can be considered as a gateway between the molecular links that are used by living cells and electromagnetic links. It is a groundbreaking proposition that will initiate a new area of research where antenna design meets synthetic biology. As an example, a biohybrid implant consisting of engineered skeletal muscle and a reconfigurable implant antenna is described. The implant antenna is used as a passive reflector that is reconfigured by the contraction of the skeletal muscle initiated with a trigger molecule that we are interested in sensing. This reconfiguration is tracked by an on-body reader that completes the wireless link. Note that here sensing is realized with skeletal muscle for the first time in the literature.