The new device functioned perfectly in a lab rat.
Photo by fotochaotin
There's been a murmur in medical technology of devices powered by the human body, collecting energy from breath, muscle movement, or even the heartbeat itself. In fact, researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology have already created a medical device that is powered by a rat's breathing. But now it seems that researchers have finally made an important breakthrough in creating a "glucose biofuel cell," or a device that is powered from the glucose and oxygen found in the body's fluids.
According to National Geographic, "Researchers created a test version of their glucose biofuel cell and implanted it in a white lab rat named Ricky. The rat sported the device successfully for 11 days and suffered no ill effects.-- a device that is powered by blood. The team hopes that their biofuel cell could one day provide safe, longer-lasting power to the next generation of medical implants, such as smaller pacemakers and artificial organs."
As TreeHugger reports, "The experiment is far from PeTA-approved, but the rat survived the testing without complications. It experienced absolutely no inflammation. Upon removing the device, they found the rat's body had 'accepted' it by coating the device with tissue containing newly grown blood vessels."
The biofuel cell was able to produce about two microwatts of power for several hours at a time. While this is a small amount of energy, a rat's body is quite tiny, so researchers expect that in something the size of a human body, it would easily be able to power a pacemaker and with an even smaller battery than current models. The researchers are hoping that this could lead to naturally powering even larger devices like sensors that can control brain chemicals in Parkinson's and Alzheimer's patients, or even minimize side effects in organ transplants.
You can read the full research paper, which was published in PLoS One.
