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Although molecular communication systems have been shown to bear great potential for many useful in-body applications, they require the intervention, action, or input of an out-of-body actor. From an Internet of Bio-Nano Things perspective, a successful overall network aims to bring together the two links belonging to the in-body and out-of-body networks for end-to-end communications. For most applications, the uplink from the in-body sensor is more significant since it provides the multi-scalar connection required to relay the information sensed and carried by the molecular communication system to a macro-scale smart terminal. This article proposes two different mechanisms to sense the output of the molecular communication system and transmit the information to an on-body reader. Each mechanism involves different genetically engineered bacteria and specific antenna designs. An experimental setup is provided to demonstrate each proposed concept. The results constitute a proof of concept to detect the in-body bacterial activity from the on-body reader.

Developments in bioengineering and nanotechnology have ignited the research on biological and molecular communication systems. Despite potential benefits, engineering communication systems to carry data signals using biological messenger molecules is challenging. Diffusing molecules may fall behind their schedule to arrive at a receiver, interfering with symbols of subsequent time slots and distorting the signal. Theoretical molecular communication models often focus solely on the characteristics of the communication channel and fail to provide an end-to-end system response, since they assume a simple thresholding process for a receiver cell and overlook how the receiver can detect the incoming distorted molecular signal. There is a need to develop viable end-to-end communication models. In this paper, we present a model-based framework for designing diffusion-based molecular communication systems coupled with synthetic genetic circuits. We describe a novel approach to encode information as a sequence of bits, each transmitted from a sender as a burst of specific number of molecules, control cellular behavior, and minimize cellular signal interference by employing equalization techniques from communication theory. This approach allows the encoding and decoding of data bits efficiently using two different types of molecules that act as the data carrier and the antagonist to cancel out the heavy tail of the former. We also present Period Finder, as a tool to optimize communication parameters, including the number of molecules and symbol duration. This tool facilitates automating the choice of communication parameters and identifying the best communication scenarios that can produce efficient cellular signals.

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