Recent advances in material innovation and structural design provide routes to flexible hybrid electronics that can combine the high‐performance electrical properties of conventional wafer‐based electronics with the ability to be stretched, bent, and twisted to arbitrary shapes, revolutionizing the transformation of traditional healthcare to digital healthcare. Here, material innovation and structural design for the preparation of flexible hybrid electronics are reviewed, a brief chronology of these advances is given, and biomedical applications in bioelectrical monitoring and stimulation, optical monitoring and treatment, acoustic imitation and monitoring, bionic touch, and body‐fluid testing are described. In conclusion, some remarks on the challenges for future research of flexible hybrid electronics are presented.
Peripheral neuromodulation has been widely used throughout clinical practices and basic neuroscience research. However, the mechanical and geometrical mismatches at current electrode-nerve interfaces and complicated surgical implantation often induce irreversible neural damage, such as axonal degradation. Here, compatible with traditional 2D planar processing, we propose a 3D twining electrode by integrating stretchable mesh serpentine wires onto a flexible shape memory substrate, which has permanent shape reconfigurability (from 2D to 3D), distinct elastic modulus controllability (from ~100 MPa to ~300 kPa), and shape memory recoverability at body temperature. Similar to the climbing process of twining plants, the temporarily flattened 2D stiff twining electrode can naturally self-climb onto nerves driven by 37°C normal saline and form 3D flexible neural interfaces with minimal constraint on the deforming nerves. In vivo animal experiments, including right vagus nerve stimulation for reducing the heart rate and action potential recording of the sciatic nerve, demonstrate the potential clinical utility.
The virulence of
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
, a Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen, is regulated by many transcriptional factors (TFs) that control the expression of quorum sensing and protein secretion systems. Here, we report a genome-wide, network-based approach to dissect the crosstalk between 20 key virulence-related TFs. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled with high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq), as well as RNA-seq, we identify 1200 TF-bound genes and 4775 differentially expressed genes. We experimentally validate 347 of these genes as functional target genes, and describe the regulatory relationships of the 20 TFs with their targets in a network that we call ‘
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
genomic regulatory network’ (PAGnet). Analysis of the network led to the identification of novel functions for two TFs (ExsA and GacA) in quorum sensing and nitrogen metabolism. Furthermore, we present an online platform and R package based on PAGnet to facilitate updating and user-customised analyses.
Flexible inorganic bioelectronics represent a newly emerging and rapid developing research area. With its great power in enhancing the acquisition, management and utilization of health information, it is expected that these flexible and stretchable devices could underlie the new solutions to human health problems. Recent advances in this area including materials, devices, integrated systems and their biomedical applications indicate that through conformal and seamless contact with human body, the measurement becomes continuous and convenient with yields of higher quality data. This review covers recent progresses in flexible inorganic bio-electronics for human physiological parameters' monitoring in a wearable and continuous way. Strategies including materials, structures and device design are introduced with highlights toward the ability to solve remaining challenges in the measurement process. Advances in measuring bioelectrical signals, i.e., the electrophysiological signals (including EEG, ECoG, ECG, and EMG), biophysical signals (including body temperature, strain, pressure, and acoustic signals) and biochemical signals (including sweat, glucose, and interstitial fluid) have been summarized. In the end, given the application property of this topic, the future research directions are outlooked.
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