Biological microelectromechanical devices are a reality for the future and will become very important. BioMEMS are
inserted through a precise process, called robotic surgery, which would have access to small areas of the body. The
microchips will act as slow-release painkillers, and take less time to both implant and relay information about what is
going on inside the body. These bioMEMS are not on the market yet and will not be for several years. Robert Michler,
the chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Ohio State University, stated, “We’re ready to create the chips and use the
robot to insert them into the hearts of lab animals. We’re looking at probably five years before human clinical trials
begin.” To put the bioMEMS into a patient, doctors, said Michler, will use nanotechnology and robotic surgery. They
would be implanted on heart tissue and/or blood vessels in the first place so they could help scientists and doctors
“assess the benefit of their work right in the operating room, rather than waiting to see if symptoms show up.” The
bioMEMS would release stem cells and “smart stents”. Stem cells would help build muscles, organs, blood, and other
tissue, and also contain chemicals that stimulate the growth of blood vessels. Smart stents would support tissue, keep
heart blood vessels open, and detect changes in blood flow. Duke University’s chief of cardiology, Pascal Goldschmidt, is
also for the development of bioMEMS; the smart stents are his own idea. “Smart stents would have a sensory role.
They would gather information on how blood flows through the organ, without the need for a physician to directly
examine the blood vessels.” The bioMEMS would house the tools that would find and pass on information on potentially
cancerous tissues to the doctors. Speaking of the ways bioMEMS would help doctors fight cancer, here is another one:
vaccines. The field of cancer vaccines has yet to be completely explored, but there is still potential to create cancer
vaccines. A chip or slow-release capsule, taken orally, could target specific types of cancer. Problems besides the
vaccines themselves are dosage of, place of, and duration of the vaccine. “Drug delivery devices would give us much
better control of dosing, thus enhancing the effectiveness of the drug while limiting its toxicity,” said another
supporter of the development of bioMEMS, Michael Caligiuri, associate director for clinical research at Ohio State’s
Comprehensive Cancer Center. As well as being a cancer vaccine distributor, the microchips could act as slow-release
painkillers. Even with today’s technology, treating the pain that comes with surgery is poorly done in more than fifty
percent of patients, said the director of cancer pain, therapy and palliative medicine at the James cancer Hospital at
Ohio State, Costantino Benedetti. He hopes for a local anesthetic that could last days or weeks and be released through
slow-release technology. Today, the strongest local anesthetics last, at maximum, eight hours. Benedetti also said, “A
drug delivery system that would allow a short-acting anesthetic to be released slowly would be advantageous.” How
would it be advantageous? Take for example a surgeon at the end of an operation. S/he could place the slow-release
anesthetic in the wound, and it would not be necessary for “traditional post-operation pain relief.” If a painkiller were
to be released slowly inside the body, then it would prevent the pain impulse from reaching the brain so the patient
would never feel the pain. Overall, the microchips would be helpful to many areas once developed.
Importance
The technology of the bioMEMS will influence and save many lives and change both the world and the future. The
microchips will help monitor a person’s blood flow, send an alert to the doctors if something has gone wrong and then
they will fix it. If these microchips can help prevent cancer then more lives will be saved, even if all they do is transmit
the vaccine to the body. This greatly influences people’s lives since they might be living because of the bioMEMS (as
opposed to dead because they did not have a bioMEM implanted) and they might be living in pain were it not for the
bioMEMS. Again, because of their ability to track blood moving around the body, more may be discovered in that field
due to the bioMEMS; though they might only detect changes in blood flow, scientists and doctors could find patterns
with the aid of he microchips and expand their knowledge of how blood moves about the body. This will improve their
education and help the study of medicine develop. BioMEMS will also shape the future if both medicine and the world.
For example, with the advancement of the microchips they could be used to carry and pass on other medications and
vaccines besides one(s) for cancer. In fact, it could help the military fight the bio war. With more people overcoming
cancer with the help of the bioMEMS, more people will be alive and well to enjoy life. However, if someone were to very
frequently be treated with the microchips, the more likely, as with any medication, to become dependent and not live if
the chip were to be removed from the. These bioMEMS also hold the promise of being less expensive than traditional
medicinal methods. This will help commerce and leave the extra money for other things. For example, research for
vaccines for cancer and other diseases. To have more money “floating” around will help the economy and the prices of
other medicines may go down as well. Overall, these biological microelectromechanical devices are an investment for the
future and the world.
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