Symposium SM1—Bioelectronics—Materials, Processes and Applications

Bioelectronics – a field intended to advance healthcare and to provide tools to further understand physiology and pathology – describes the interface of biological systems with traditional (opto)electronics. The inherent mismatch of this interface poses many challenges that threaten the utility, lifetime, and success of materials and devices meant for diagnostic or therapeutic use. Biosystems (cells, tissues, organs) are inherently soft, often dynamic, and communicate via biomolecular recognition and ionic fluxes. Electronic systems are traditionally hard, static, and rely on electronic transport. Bioelectronics materials research works to bridge these mismatches and to improve the bi-directional communication for recording biological signals and stimulating biosystems.

The bioelectronics field encompases a broad range of materials and devices that address the needs described above. This symposium will therefore highlight efforts in the field including organic and low dimensional carbon-based bioelectronic materials and devices for biosensing, diagnostics, actuation, drug delivery, and active tissue engineering. Focus will also be placed on both active and passive materials and processes meant to impart flexible, conformal, stretchable, and/or transient/degradable functionality. This symposium intends to further emphasize the need for cross-disciplinary efforts in the development of next generation bio-integrated electronics by bringing together more fundamental research efforts with those of industrial participants, highlighting systems level challenges (power and signal transmission/communication), and rising clinical needs.