Engineering has moved inside the body to innovate like never before. In neuroscience, brain implants can provide ‘psychic’ communication for people with locked-in syndrome. In medication a new technology aims to deliver chemotherapy and other drugs directly to the parts that need them by bubbles in the blood stream. And ingestible electronics are being made to fight disease by sending antibody-directing messages straight from the gut to the brain.
The BBC and the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 have come together to stage a special event, The Engineers: Exploring The Human.
Three biomedical engineers at the forefront of their profession worldwide join presenter Caroline Steel and discuss their trail-blazing work, answering questions from an audience at the Royal Geographical Society in London.
Guests: Tom Oxley (Australia) – Neurologist, and brain implant innovator. Professorial Fellow Melbourne Medical School. CEO of Synchron Eleanor Stride, OBE (Britain) – Biomedical Engineer, bubble technology innovator. Professor of Biomaterials at the University of Oxford Khalil Ramadi (UAE) – Nano-roboticist, ingestible electroceuticals innovator, Director of the Ramadi Lab for Advanced Neuro-engineering and Translational Medicine in Abu Dhabi. Assistant Professor of Bioengineering, New York University.
00:00 Introduction 02:20 First experience of patient with locked-in syndrome 03:53 Using bubbles to deliver drugs inside the body 05:21 Ingestible electronics 06:13 Implanting a ‘stentrode’ into the brain 07:54 Influencing the brain via the digestive system 09:27 Introducing oxygen to the bubbles in the bloodstream 11:21 Human trials for a brain implanted computer interface 12:19 Targeting bubbles at different parts of the body 13:13 What happens to the electronic ingestibles in the body 14:15 Human trials with bubble technology 15:09 Different conditions these technologies could treat 18:06 Ethical issues 21:44 Could the three technologies work together? 23:32 Could neural implants be used for VR gaming?
Presenter: Caroline Steel Producer: Charlie Taylor YouTube Producer: Steven Williams Picture Editor: Sara Hegarty
Images provided by our guests and used by permission. Other images from Getty Creative.
