Research Highlight: Rogers
Stretching the Imagination
John A. Rogers has invented a mind-boggling number of electronic devices. Do you want to measure your sweat’s chemistry to check hydration? There’s a device for that.
Monitor exposure to harmful levels of ultraviolet radiation from the sun with a sensor smaller than an M&M? There’s a device for that.
Jump-start your heart with an ultrathin, stretchable “sock” that acts as a pacemaker? There’s a device for that.
Or map your brain’s electrical signals with a sensor that softly laminates onto the organ’s wrinkled, folded surface and then harmlessly dissolves, making a second surgery to remove the sensor unnecessary? There’s a device for that, too.
How about “artificial skin” that creates the sensation of touch in virtual reality environments? Or an implant that senses when the user has ingested a fatal level of opioids, delivers a lifesaving antidote and calls emergency responders?
Yes. Believe it or not, Rogers has developed bioelectronics for all these applications and more.
For more on the story read Northwestern Magazine.