Agenda

Microelectronics / Medical-NeuroDelta Colloquium

Bioelectronics Medicine

Vasiliki Giagka (TU Delft/Fraunhofer IZM), Daniel Schobben (Founder, Chief Operating Officer, Salvia Bioelectronics)

Abstract Vasiliki Giagka

If the Medicine of the future is Bioelectronic, how does the pill of the future look like? – and what does it take to make it?

In a world where medicine is becoming more personalised the promise of Bioelectronic Medicine is that tiny implants will deliver energy in the form of electrical impulses, replacing pharmaceuticals, their conventional chemical counterparts. But how can we develop such tiny smart and autonomous implants that (need to) seamlessly interact with the tissue and live in the body for decades? How can we protect all the components in such an implant while still maintaining the small form factor and essential flexibility? How can we design electronics such that they remain better protected in such a harsh environment? How can we ensure autonomy under the above restrictions? Eventually, how can we make our medicine more precise, i.e. increase the specificity at which we interact with the tissue? And if we achieve all these, how will the pill of the future look like?

Abstract Daniel Schrobben

Salvia Bioelectronics, working on a novel interface and neurostimulation concept for chronic migraine treatment.

Since several years deep trench isolation (DTI) is used as a Chronic migraine – i.e. 15+ headache-days each month –affects 1.4% of the population, mostly 25-50 y/o women. Pharmacological treatments are available, but these have limited effectiveness and are associated with severe side effects (o.a. dizziness, nausea, weight gain). Many people are refractory to medication; they do not respond or cannot tolerate them.

Salvia develops a unique bioelectronic foil that is placed seamlessly below the skin to stimulate proven neural targets for the treatment of chronic headache. This patent-pending neurostimulation concept is designed for optimal safety and effectiveness and opens the market for this already-validated and long-awaited headache treatment.

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Overview of Microelectronics Colloquium