How Bioelectronics Could Heal Our Bodies And Minds, with Bozhi Tian
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What if the future of technology isn't something you carry around in your pocket or strapped to your wrist, but something that lives under your skin? Not computers we plug into, but computers that plug into us. The line between biology and technology is already blurring, and the bioelectronics is at the forefront of this transformation. Bioelectronics.

This emerging science isn't about gadgets or wires. It's about a seamless connection between biology and technology, erasing the boundary between you and it. Cyborgs actually may not be fictional

as we once seemed. That's Bozi Tian, a professor of chemistry at the University of Chicago who leads a research group that develops a wide array of bioelectronics that are paving the way for our cyborg future. The cyborg term probably reminds us of the images of bulky, futuristic machines. But the reality could be far more elegant.

And the technologies might not look as bulky mechanical implants, but instead be thin, flexible, and seamlessly integrated into the body. And this really blurred the line between what is human and what is electronic. Imagine electronics that don't just heal your body, they upgrade it.

Tiny devices that speak the language of your cells, enhance your senses, and fight disease. This isn't the stuff of science fiction. It's science, and it's happening now.

Imagine wearable patches that actively regulate our gut microbiomes, or a neuroimplant that can help us review the hidden cognitive potential, or skin-like devices that can monitor and optimize our health in real time. Those are all possible. Tian's lab has been making breakthroughs in all sorts of bioelectronics devices. We're engineering silicon

to interact directly with the biological systems, making it not just as the passive materials, but also active participant in processes such as the neural signaling or cardiac modulation. So the goal isn't just to make the devices smaller or faster like what we do in industry for making computer chip,

is to make them smarter and more adaptive and also deeply integrated with the biology that we're designed, they are designed to support. This technology can even exist at the smallest scales. Picture tiny devices that could go into your cells and tune into your body's electrical symphony.

So I hope that one day this high-precision intracellular tools could become a game changer for medicine and synthetic biology. And for example, they could potentially guide stem cells to regenerate tissues, and they can deliver drugs directly to the right parts of a single cell. But where things get really mind-blowing is when these tools could be used not just in your body, but in your brain. And this photo stimulation can also help

allow the modulation of the, let's say, brain activities at high spatial and temporal resolution. So enhancing the sensory perception is actually a very exciting frontier among those possibilities. Welcome to Big Brains, the podcast where we translate the biggest ideas and complex discoveries into brain food you can use. I'm your host, Paul Rand. On today's episode, our bioelectric future.

Big Brains is supported by UChicago's online Master of Liberal Arts program, which empowers working professionals to think deeply, communicate clearly, and act purposely to advance their careers. Choose from optional concentrations in ethics and leadership, literary studies, and tech and society. More at mla.uchicago.edu. Let's break down some of these words. What does the word bioelectronics actually mean?

And

You started having an interest of looking at the intersection between material sciences and biology, which is a really interesting combination. How in the world did you come to deciding to marry the two of those?

Growing up, I was fascinated by nature's ability to self-heal and adapt. I was always amazed by the intricate structures of some naturally occurring biomaterials, such as bone or sea sponges. Sorry, bone or what was the other one? Sea sponge. Okay, sea sponges. Right, sea sponges. And in those structures, the inorganic materials, they actually form the majority of the skeleton of those complex structures.

At some point during my undergraduate studies, I found myself looking at those materials and then asking, what if...

this could become metals or semiconductors while still maintaining those intricate structures? And what if they can interact with cells and tissues in an even more seamless and dynamic way? And that question really stuck with me. Okay. It does come across, if you think about it, as science fiction in its own ways. And so is there a point where you said, you know, this is actually a concept that seems far-fetched, but I think I can make it work? Well, actually...

I haven't watched that much science fiction, to be honest. Don't get me wrong. It is fascinating, and I know how it inspires many people. But for me, the creative spark really comes from somewhere else. I love using my imagination, but it's more rooted in art and also natural world. The way a spider spins its web or the structure of a sea sponge I just mentioned.

It's like a perfectly designed blueprint for engineering. And that's where I see innovation, not in a galaxy far, far away, but actually right here in the details of our own world. And I also mentioned art. Art plays a big role as well.

Observing, for example, how light dances across a sculpture or other patterns in abstract paintings often gives me some ideas for designing materials that could blend seamlessly with biology. So I would say that science fiction is great for some, but for me, it is really the beauty in everyday

and the mysterious of the nature that really sparked my curiosity. So if you were designing a semiconductor to work in a machine or another piece of electronics, it has to be compatible, but not necessarily from a biological point of view. What things do you have to keep in mind about really the bridging biology and technology that may be different than if it wasn't an actual piece of hardware?

Biocompatibility is probably one of the biggest challenges in creating these bioelectronics systems. So the materials we use must integrate seamlessly with the body's tissues. This is no small feat. Biological systems are incredibly dynamic. They are constantly shifting, growing, and also responding to their environment. So a material such as silicon, they might work well in the short term, but

but it may trigger some inflammation or rejection or even immune response over time. So in our lab, for example, to address this challenge, bowel compatibility challenge, we have to make the material very flexible, soft, almost match the mechanical properties of the naturally occurring tissue. But at the same time, we need to modify the surfaces. Engineers

surfaces with some chemicals or some polymer coatings so that they can resist degradation and also minimize immune responses. There are two strategies that we currently are using. The first one is to make the material more flexible, almost like a thin sheet of the tissue.

So that's the first strategy, make them mechanically more compliant. And the second strategy is to change their surface chemistry so that they can interact with salt and tissues better. Designing materials that can seamlessly integrate with the body is an incredible challenge, but it's only the beginning. Once you've built something the body can accept, the next question becomes, how do you make it solve problems the body can't handle on its own?

For example, what if the solution to a massive challenge like antibiotic resistance wasn't a new drug at all, but something entirely different? Overusing antibiotics has created a global health crisis, giving rise to resistant superbugs that are increasingly difficult, sometimes almost impossible to treat. We are still losing the battle against so-called superbugs.

bacteria that are resistant to nearly all the antibiotics. The more we rely on antibiotics indiscriminately, the more we actually push bacteria to evolve defenses. And that's a problem. And it also creates a vicious cycle that we don't want to see. Antibiotic resistance contributes to the death of 700,000 people around the world each year. Experts have predicted it will eclipse the number of people affected by cancer by 2050.

One of the biggest causes is the overuse of antibiotics. In our approach, the patch offers, we believe, a game-changing solution. The patch Tian's lab has developed is a revolutionary way to use bioelectronics to treat bacterial infections in an entirely new way.

It actually uses precise and localized electrical signals to target bacteria right at the source of infection. And it's a drug-free alternative that reduces the risk of resistance entirely because it doesn't involve any chemicals that bacteria can adapt to.

So by disrupting their behavior, without killing them outright, the PET avoids creating the evolutionary pressure for resistance. So how does it work? It works by delivering a gentle electric signal, which can change the electrical potential across the bacterial membranes. And when the bacterial membrane potential changes, it actually shifts the bacterial behavior, but without killing them. Here is the fascinating part. When the membrane potential changes, it reduces the bacterial ability

to cause harm and essentially dialing down their violence. But why not just kill them outright? So we typically think that we just kill the bacteria directly. That's probably the easy solution. The answer lies in understanding that bacteria aren't just invaders, they're actually an integral part of our body's complex microbial ecosystem. So here's the thing about bacteria: they're not all bad. Some are troublemakers, sure, causing infections and making us sick. But others?

Well, they're basically running vital systems in your body from digestion to immunity. Think about E. coli. So E. coli is one of the major bacterial species and they can be good. They can cause infection, but they can also be really good. They can be bad cause infection, but they can also be really good. And here's the problem with antibiotics. They don't always care which is which. They just wipe them all out.

But the patch, well, that's much more targeted, much more precise. We just use gentle electrical stimulation to inhibit bacteria, but not killing them because I mentioned earlier that bacteria can be good, can be bad. And what we hope to achieve is to inhibit their harmful side, but leverage their beneficial side, for example, for therapeutics. So in the current case, if somebody had a cut

that got infected, you would then put a instead of giving a penicillin or any number of other antibiotics to treat it, you would in turn use one of your patches. In the future, it is in

entirely possible that patients can use advanced versions of those patches to treat everyday scrapes or cuts. I think it's totally possible. Imagine just the bandage that not only protect wounds but also accelerate wound healing and prevent infractions with embedded bioelectronic technology. Okay, wow. Okay. And

If you thought about treating some infections, the thought is that, you know, 10 days or less you're treating an infection. How long would it take under this system to be able to treat? In our published work, we showed that just a few hours, electric stimulation would be sufficient. My gosh. Yeah. To inhibit biofilm growth. And if we thought a little bit further down the road and

were taking this technology and we're thinking about, well, where could this go? What other conditions, i.e. cancer, could be treated with such a process? Well, I believe so. The similar bioelectronic principles or bioelectrical device designs

could disrupt the cancer cell growth or enhance the delivery of therapies to the tumor sites. And besides this cancer therapy, I do believe that for some autoimmune disorders, this device can be used as well because the electrofuse could be adapted to modulate the overreactive immune responses. And this can potentially provide new treatments for autoimmune diseases such as lupus.

And if I project what we could achieve like five years or 10 years from now, I would say that it might become a product at that time point because the whole process does not involve chemicals, does not involve genetic modification. In terms of FDA approval, it would be faster. Applying bioelectronics to our skin is one thing.

But what if we could infuse those electronics with living materials so that they could be placed deeper into our bodies, even into our cells, so that they could rewrite the code of how our bodies work? Living bioelectronics, well, that's after the break. If you're getting a lot out of the important research shared on big brains, there's another University of Chicago podcast network show you should check out. It's called Entitled, and it's about human rights.

co-hosted by lawyers and UChicago Law School professors Claudia Flores and Tom Ginsberg. Entitled explores the stories around why rights matter and what's the matter with rights.

One of the main focuses of Tian's lab is developing what's called living bioelectronics: devices that have had living cells integrated into their systems, allowing them to adapt and sync up with your body. So in my previous discussion, I mentioned that bioelectronics can actually inhibit bacteria. So we don't want bacteria to grow. But in this case, we actually want to use the beneficial size of the bacteria.

if we know how to inhibit the harmful sites. So basically, living bioelectronics can integrate living bacteria or other living mammalian cells into the bioelectronics devices, and this can create a fusion of the biology and technology that is both innovative and also functional. Imagine a symphony, right? Each microorganism plays a role in controlling the inflammation or healing wounds or even regulating the immune systems.

And now we can incorporate all those biological functions in the electronic system as well. Can I maybe go a little further and say, talk about a prototype and what it is and how it could actually work. Right. Last year, we published a work in science, and that work was led by my very talented former graduate student, Dr. Joe Rinsch. He is now a postdoc at Stanford. In that work, we showed that we can have a viable and flexible device

leaving by light tonics, that can be used for treating psoriasis. Psoriasis is a chronic autoimmune condition that primarily affects the skin, causing it to become inflamed and red and covered with silvery scales. And what we did in that work is that we incorporate the bacteria as epidermis.

into some hydrogels together with some electronic sensors and stimulators. So what happens is that these bacteria aren't just passive components, they actively interact with the skin's immune system to modulate the inflammation and promote regeneration. So with this approach, the bacteria can sense and respond to local inflammation and then deliver the therapeutic effects precisely where they are needed most.

So what I think the truly exciting part of this device is that they're not just used to treat symptoms, they actually work in harmony with the body's natural systems to enhance their ability to heal and adapt. I think this is just the first step in our effort in this living bioelectronics, and we have some ongoing work in the lab as well. Living bioelectronics could go far beyond just healing wounds.

These nanoscale tools can dive straight into your cells, delivering signals that could fine-tune your body's bioelectric code to regenerate tissue, catch early signs of disease, or even engineer cells to create entirely new therapies.

We also designed some nanoscale tools. So they are so small that they can actually enter the cell, target specific organelles. Or they are small that they can deliver signals only to a part of the cell we call the sub-cellular component. So these tools let us watch and control what is happening inside the cell or just a part of the cell with incredible precision. So our devices use living cells

to directly engage with the body's bioelectric signals. And this can amplify or modify these signals to guide processes such as the tissue regeneration or healing. So this biohybrid approach could introduce new regenerative capabilities by tapping into the inherent bioelectric language of the cells

And this could also allow us to leverage the body's natural healing and growth mechanisms. And it can deliver drugs directly to the right parts of a single cell, or catch early signs of a disease like cancer, and even engineer cells to produce therapeutic molecules. And when it comes to chronic diseases like diabetes, this could be a game changer.

Imagine a device powered by living cells that can sense your glucose levels and release insulin exactly when you need it. No needles and no constant monitoring. And the basic idea is that some living cells, they can actually sense glucose levels and release insulin in response. And in our body, that is the pancreatic beta cells. So what we hope to achieve is to incorporate

those cells or engineered living cells into the bioelectron device so that they can sense the glucose level in our body, release insulin in response, and then can potentially give the diabetic patients

a seamless and also biologically integrated solution. And this can also eliminate the need for constant monitoring or injections. I would imagine you'd have people lining up down the block for that one. Yeah. So this is something that we truly hope to achieve.

And probably we can accomplish this in a few years from now. There's even to the point where you thought about edible types of materials that could actually get involved in helping regulate the gut microbiome. Is that right? Yeah, exactly. What we did is that we create synthetic materials

that can help the gut microbiome. And this edible material contains nanoscale mineral particles as well. So when they are delivered into the GI tract and eventually go to intestine, they interact with the gut microbiome. And what we found is that they can restore the balance in the gut for conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease,

and they can deliver biotics or other therapies exactly at where they're needed. But it doesn't stop there. These tiny bioelectronics are not just for your gut or your body. They're even possible to use in your brain.

Yes, absolutely. So we have been working on bioelectronics tailored for neural applications as well. For instance, we have developed technologies to deliver a precise photo stimulation to certain neural tissues, and those neural tissues can be the brain tissues or some peripheral nerve tissues. Imagine devices that don't just restore loss functions, but actually enhance it.

For example, by electronic systems that could improve memory by optimizing the neural communication or serve as external data storage system that integrates seamlessly with the brain. Let's just picture a device that gives someone the ability to see infrared light or see frequencies beyond the range of a human hearing. Those things are actually totally possible.

if we have some correct signal transducers. So we could unlock entirely new sensory experiences by doing so. But it goes further. Bioelectronic system could also regulate emotions by gently modulating the neural circuits that govern mood or anxiety.

But you may be wondering, how would these electronics under our skin be powered? Tian's lab came with something truly ingenious: photoelectroceuticals. It's a fancy way of saying that they use light.

By using specific wavelengths of light, we can develop a tool that is capable of precisely modulating neurons or even controlling the rhythm of a beating heart. And this approach doesn't require very invasive surgical procedures or direct electrical contacts. And it also allows a very precise targeting of cells and tissues, without affecting the surrounding areas. So we believe it's a technology that opens

exciting new doors for treating conditions like epilepsy, where the precise neurocontrol is actually critical, or for cardiac arrhythmia treatment, where the fine-tuning of the heart rhythm can be life-saving. Like a pacemaker. Exactly. So pacemakers, they are traditionally bulky and rigid, and they can provide some electrical stimulation to the heart so that the heart can beat at the same frequency as the electric stimulation.

This is the traditional design. And in our lab, I would say that we have designed a new type of pacemaker, which is not driven by direct electric stimulation, but actually by optical stimulation. And I'm actually impressed by optical stimulation, optical policies, optic stimulation, not electric one. But the mechanism is not that complicated to understand. Think about a solar cell panel.

We shine light on the solar cell panel and the solar cell panel can convert energy from light into electricity. And we use that converted electricity to stimulate the heart tissues.

So essentially we need to use a transducer and in our case it's a very thin silicon-based membrane that is the optical cardiac pacemaker. So we shun light to that flexible membrane and that can convert into some electrical pulses to stimulate the heart in a less invasive manner. Those have to be implanted but also removed when they've ended the end of their life cycle.

But that would not be the case for some of the devices that you're talking about. Yes, absolutely. So a key feature of this pacemaker is its ability to safely dissolve within the body over time. And unlike the traditional devices that require surgical removal, an optoelectronic pacemaker actually degrades naturally after completing its function. So this approach minimizes the risk

of complications and also alleviates the burden on patients, particularly those with limited surgical options. Is this

something that you see being commercially viable within our lifetime? Yes, absolutely. We are actually having a startup. We're still in the process to make this happen. And our goal is in about five years to 10 years, this optical cardiac pacemaker can be used in the patient. Wow, my goodness.

As you start going through all these things, this is about at the point where folks are listening and they're saying, well, that's interesting, but should we be doing these things? Are there ethical considerations that come into play? And if so, where?

I would bet folks are thinking, well, that's pretty cool. And to interfere and treat infections this way seems like a very compelling approach. But as you start talking about enhanced human capabilities, perhaps that starts raising a different set of questions. How do you and folks in your lab think through issues like this? Yes, absolutely. I love this question.

The ethics are certainly at the forefront of everything we do. When you are working on technologies that could fundamentally alter how we interact with biology, you have to ask tough questions about their impact. For us, it's about ensuring those tools are used to improve health and quality of life, not to control or exploit.

So the potential of the misuse is actually real, especially with technologies that can precisely control biological systems. For example, the newer devices can enhance cognitive performance,

but they also raise questions about surveillance and coercion. So to address this, we should work closely with ethicists, policymakers, and also some stakeholders to consider these risks and build safeguards into the design of our technologies. As you start sitting down and start thinking about what do you hope to accomplish during this period of work and

Where do you expect us to be in the next 10 years or further away that is kind of shaping your vision? Bioelectronics have the potential to go far beyond the body. They could be woven into the fabric of art, architecture, and even environmental protection. Let's just picture a building that breathes with bioelectronics systems, regulating its internal climate, using the principles inspired by human physiology.

Or imagine bioelectronic art installations that interact dynamically with their environment, responding to light, sound, or even the people viewing them. So those technologies could also play a vital role in sustainability. Think about bioelectronic devices that monitor ecosystems,

mitigate pollution or harness energy from biological processes to power the clean technology. So my lab has been working on bioelectronics for over 12 years since I joined UChicago. Now I'm actually exploring broader intersection of biology and material science.

I believe the growth really happens outside of our comfortable zones. So I'm eager to leap into new areas that push the boundaries of what is possible. Big Brains is a production of the University of Chicago Podcast Network. We're sponsored by the Graham School. Are you a lifelong learner with an insatiable curiosity? Access more than 50 open enrollment courses every quarter. Learn more at graham.uchicago.edu slash bigbrains.

If you like what you heard on our podcast, please leave us a rating and review. The show is hosted by Paul M. Rand and produced by Leah Cesarine and me, Matt Hodap. Thanks for listening.