MEDICAL ELECTRONICS
stimulation, which could prevent people from having to take certain drugs or even allow the creation of a fully bionic replacement organ.
An illustration of the variety and complexity of datasets as they are fed into big-data analytics and artificial intelligence engines for assisted decision-making in a medical context
into production.
Once in the manufacturing stage, yield and contamination control are amongst the key parameters being monitored. Inside the bioreactors, and during upstream and downstream handling, it is vital to prevent undesired biological material (foreign DNA, bacteria, etc.) from entering the production flow. Typically, this bioburden, as it is called, is monitored by taking samples and testing them with high-end analytical tools, either offline in a laboratory or at-line near the production line. Here again, nanoelectronics- based devices, like DNA or ion sensors and on-chip or lens-free microscopes, are orders of magnitude more compact, significantly cheaper, and can be deployed in a more integrated way with the process flow itself. These state-of-the-art technologies also enable online monitoring and don’t affect the monitored product: two benefits that become even more important in the growing domain of personalised cell therapies, where each patient has its own associated bioreactor. This advanced personalisation also means quantities are low and cost is dominated by the long turnaround time, largely resulting from the hands-on time spent on necessary testing. While the needle-to-needle time from blood extraction to the start of the treatment should in fact be as short as possible to save more lives. Chip technology is mature enough to shift the focus of process analytical technologies for complex analyses (e.g. bioburden: cells, DNA, proteins, ions, etc.) towards at-line, on- line and inline testing.
All of these advancements could be sorted into short-to-mid-term incremental innovations with mature technologies behind them, waiting to be implemented. Then when we allow ourselves to dream further into the future, there's a myriad of additional
MAY 2021 | ELECTRONICS TODAY 49
synergies between nanoelectronics and pharma to discover. Think of a 'digital twin' that could profile a patients’ behaviour and context in a virtual environment as an additional layer of biometric-phenotyping information aside from its genetic map. Potentially completed with organ-on-chip devices such as on-chip artificial hearts or lungs to create functional models on which simulations which could be run before implementing a drug or therapy in real life. Significant progress is also being made in the domain of ingestibles: miniaturised electronic devices that can be swallowed, and perform sensing and actuation in ‘our natural bioreactor’ (the digestive tract). And genomics, where nanoelectronics could provide the means to increase precision and throughputs while lowering costs for genetic mapping and engineering. We could even move to the next level of non-drug-based treatments like electrical (vagus) nerve
These and most other disruptive scenarios are currently in the playground of universities and research institutes, spin-offs, and startups. In Belgium, significant progress is happening with involvement from imec, UZ Gasthuisberg Leuven, VIB and their spinoffs. Notably, ULB (Université Libre de Bruxelles) has a biotech center in Charleroi, and a vibrant startup ecosystem that emerged around it as a result of several successful spinoffs. In other words, all of the ingredients to build successful synergies and partnerships exist an area smaller than Silicon Valley. This is one of the reasons I am most excited and optimistic about the future synergies between the technology and pharma sector. My optimism is fed by the observation that attitudes have started to change over the last few years. Until recently, my colleagues and I felt like missionaries, traveling around, preaching our research’s potential value to industry stakeholders. We knew we had reached an important milestone when pharmaceutical companies began to approach us proactively.
Over the last couple of years, many pharmaceutical companies have visited imec to learn about our latest developments and projected roadmaps in nanoelectronics for life sciences, and we are finally landing the first contracts. The whole medical community is gradually acknowledging the importance of digital health. The pharmaceutical sector often finds it difficult to capitalize on these opportunities and will continue to do so unless it can change the way it functions. Digitization, along with intelligent automation in manufacturing, and establishing the right partnerships, can eventually help companies reduce their go- to-market cycle for drugs.
imec
www.imec-int.com/en
Chip technology is mature enough to shift the focus of process analytical technologies for complex analyses (e.g. bioburden: cells, DNA, proteins, ions, etc.) towards at-line, on-line and inline testing
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