Communication Using Molecules

The European Union is funding a project to develop a new concept of information transmission for active implanted medical devices as part of its funding program Horizon.

For the ERMES project, the European Union is providing more than 3.7 million euros over a funding period of 36 months as part of the highly competitive Horizon program – EIC (European Innovation Council) Pathfinder Open. The aim of the project is to develop a new concept of information transmission for Active Implantable Medical Devices (AIMD).

From Bavaria, the University of Regensburg (Prof. Dr. Härteis), the Deggendorf Institute of Technology (Prof. Dr. Aung) and the FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg (Dr. M. Schäfer) are involved. They were awarded more than a third of the funding. “A tremendous success. Of 1119 applications submitted this year, only 40 were approved,” says Prof. Silke Härteis the project partner from the University of Regensburg. Other partners in the joint project are based in Finland and France. The Università di Catania in Italy is the lead partner. In addition to the universities, four companies are also involved.

As the number of chronic diseases increases, so do the potential uses for AIMDs, which can be used to replace missing or defective body parts, administer medication, monitor bodily functions or support organs and tissue. The best-known examples of AIMDs are technical devices such as pacemakers or implantable defibrillators. They are implanted in a patient’s body through a medical or surgical procedure in order to perform their services there for an indefinite period of time. Such devices work autonomously and must transmit data to the outside world. The limited ability to control and monitor their function is a major obstacle to new developments. This is mainly due to the fact that AIMDs can only be read and controlled to a limited extent within the body using conventional transmission methods such as electromagnetic waves.

To ensure efficient communication with AIMDs, new ways of transferring information between devices both inside and outside the body must be developed and established. In their project ERMES (short for: INFORMATION TRANSFER BETWEEN MEDICAL DOCTORS AND IMPLANTED MEDICAL DEVICES VIA SYNTHETIC MOLECULAR COMMUNICATION), the project partners aim to close this gap. Their aim is to develop innovative communication and sensor concepts for AIMDs.

They are building on three pillars:

1. the chemical design and synthesis of suitable messenger substances
2. the development of suitable systems to introduce the messenger substances into the body via the circulatory system
3. the development of detection strategies for the corresponding messenger substances in the bloodstream.

Prof. Silke Härteis from the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Anatomy at the Faculty of Biology and Preclinical Medicine at the University of Regensburg is building on the so-called chorion-allantois membrane (CAM) model. In the CAM model, the choroid of fertilized chicken eggs – also known as the chorion-allantois membrane – replaces conventional animal experiments. It is also cost-efficient and time-saving. The researcher already has experience with the model. She is involved in a sub-project in Transregio 374 “Tubule system and interstitium of the kidney: (patho-) physiology and crosstalk”. The joint project between the University of Regensburg and the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg aims to gain insights into the development of various kidney diseases. Using the CAM model, she is investigating the growth of a particular, severe form of hereditary kidney cysts and testing promising drugs for their effectiveness.

For the new project as part of the Horizon program, Prof. Härteis is relying on the same model, but with a completely different goal. Namely, to develop novel information systems for AIMDs in which molecules – i.e. chemical compounds – are used for communication between AIMDs within the body. This still relatively new concept of information transfer is called “molecular communication”. “Molecular communication is based on principles from nature and encodes information by using different concentrations or properties of molecules,” says Prof. Härteis.

Communication between AIMDs and external devices outside the body requires so-called gateways, which make it possible to convert a signal from inside the body, such as a certain molecule concentration (MK), into a macroscopic signal such as light or electromagnetic waves. These signals are then received and processed by external devices.

As the applications of such novel concepts lie primarily in health monitoring and the treatment of diseases, it is important to ensure that communication between AIMDs and with external devices is tap-proof. The researchers are therefore also working on the development of novel concepts for tap-proof communication between AIMDs using MK and with external devices.

“One of the strengths of the Horizon project is its interdisciplinary nature. The consortium consists of experts in the fields of chemistry, microfluidics, communication technology, ethics, biology and medicine,” says Prof. Härteis. The research is carried out in several stages and includes the theoretical development of novel concepts and simulation methods for communication between AIMDs as well as their multi-stage experimental realization and improvement.

About the Horizon EIC Pathfinder Open program
Horizon Europe is the European Union’s framework program for research and innovation for 2021 to 2027. The aim is to build a knowledge- and innovation-based society and competitive economy and to contribute to sustainable development (https://www.horizont-europa.de/de/Programm-1710.html). The Pathfinder program of the European Innovation Council (EIC) aims to identify radically innovative technologies that have the potential to create entirely new markets. To this end, visionary and high-risk projects are funded at an early stage of development where there is a clear technological development opportunity beyond basic research. Applicants participating in an EIC Pathfinder project are usually visionary scientists and entrepreneurial researchers from universities, research institutions, start-ups, high-tech SMEs or industrial players interested in technological research and innovation (https://eic.ec.europa.eu/eic-funding-opportunities/eic-pathfinder_en). The “EIC Pathfinder Open” enables open-topic participation.

Wissenschaftliche Ansprechpartner:

Prof. Dr. Silke Härteis
Institut für Molekulare und Zelluläre Anatomie
Universität Regensburg
Tel: +49 (0)941 943-2879
E-Mail: silke.haerteis@ur.de

http://www.uni-regensburg.de/