Actuating muscle for sustainable, minimally invasive energy harvesting

Chronically implanted neural electrodes are used to treat various neurological and neuropsychological disorders and for brain-machine interfaces used to control advanced prosthetics. Powering these systems with batteries is risky due to loss of power and energy over time, necessitating additional surgery, creating a lapse in treatment and additional risks from potential exposure to toxic material. Energy harvesting from the human body is a promising alternative, but current strategies have many drawbacks including inconsistent power production and poor lifetimes, among others. In response, Lynntech is developing an energy harvesting strategy that transforms chemical energy in the blood into electrical energy using a unique, bioengineering approach. The energy harvesting construct will be able survive for extended periods within the body and is capable of providing power that can directly be used to run the functions of a neural implant for deep brain stimulation. In Phase II, design concepts will be developed and scaled for animal testing and characterized in vivo. Additionally, preliminary scaled-up bioengineering will be explored along with integrating our system with a deep brain stimulator. Innovative designs coupled with long-lasting materials will enable this device to achieve long term goals of harvesting the chemical energy available within the human body.