If you’re familiar with wearable technology, then you’re also aware that as it develops it’s bringing forth lots of new gadgets and possibilities. Recently, CNBC.com ran a story that looked at the ways something as simple as sensors will have the capability of being placed inside our bodies in the very near future.
Ingestible sensors and implantable chips placed in the body can be used to collect information about a human body’s activity.
A common place for this type of technology is in the healthcare sector because doctors can use the information gathered from those devices to improve and monitor the health of the person who swallows it.
This monitoring, done via machine to machine technologies, is a growing sector that research firms like Frost & Sullivan, IDC and Berg Insight have said will be expanding well past the billion of dollar mark into 2016.
The CNBC.com report quoted lead technologist at Electronic Frontier Foundation, Peter Eckersley as saying, "We are going to see more sensors everywhere. It's only a matter of time before those migrate under our skin into our bodies.”
"There's going to be a ubiquitous data collection. Right now, the data is coming from the phone and wearable devices, but eventually some will be within our bodies. And having that data available can mean enormous health benefits.”
One such partnership where Proteus is working with Novartis and Otsuka Pharmaceutical, CNBC.com said, is in place to create ingestible sensors that are FDA approved. The hope here is that the sensors will be included in medicine and physicians will be able to monitor the ways a patient reacts to the drug they are given, or even monitor their dosage timing.
Also, Christopher Bettinger, a Carnegie Mellon University materials scientist is working with researchers on edible, dissolvable power sources that will be specifically used for these new kinds of medical devices. These will be safe for swallowing and will work as intended, without causing harm to the internal body.
Just as with any medical advancements though, there are still major risks to consider. CNBC.com reported that risk comes from behind ingestible sensors where there is the accessibility of information. How easily could someone find out more about your condition, or worse, possibly manipulate what you need to survive, if they could hack into that information? While there is still work to be done in this field, the implications and future innovations are grand.
