Implantable Micromachines
February 21, 2017 | Terry Sharrer
Hydrogels have come a long way since Dutch chemist and physician Jacob Maarten van Bemmelen first described their nature in 1896. They are now used in making baby diapers, contact lenses, breast implants, and as this piece describes, in designing implantable microelectromechanical systems (iMEMS). Researchers at Columbia University have been able to make implantable valves, rotors, pumps, and drug delivery devices by adding magnetic iron particles in the hydrogel, and manipulating their function with external magnets. Layers of hydrogel make up the moving parts of these micromachines. MORE
Image Credit: Sau Yin Chin/Columbia Engineering