Soal brain injury nih, salah satu penyebab kematian terbesar di negara maju. Kesulitan riset cedera kepala ini katanya salah satunya karena susah bikin simulasi trauma pada kepala tanpa ngerusak elektroda yang memonitor respon sel otak terhadap trauma tersebut.

Nah, tim engineer dari Princeton University, Columbia University dan University of Cambridge ngusulin, gmn kalo dibuat membran elektroda yang fleksibel, jadi gak rusak wkt ada trauma. Membran ini juga bisa dipake buat kepentingan medis yang lain yaitu prosthetics.

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KutipFuture work will continue to refine these measurements and also attempt to obtain readings from cells during the injury events themselves, Morrison said. The flexible electrodes also can be used to provide electrical input to brain tissue and may one day be used to induce learning in brain cells damaged by trauma. This technology also has promising applications for the engineering of nervous, muscular and skeletal tissue. For instance, Morrison said, the electrodes could potentially be used to train heart tissue grown in the lab to contract appropriately when stimulated.

Together, the engineers created the first working stretchable circuits by linking tiny pieces of traditional semiconductors mounted on a rubbery membrane with thin pieces of gold. Even when stretched, the circuits maintained their ability to conduct electricity.

Research on the flexible membranes also is likely to contribute to the longstanding challenge of connecting electronic devices to the human nervous system, Wagner said. Prosthetic devices, for example, could be coated with electronic “skin” that senses touch and temperature and sends that information back to the brain like any natural human limb.