John Rogers - Transient Bioelectronics (De Lange Conference XI)

Rice University president David Leebron opens the 2018 De Lange Conference XI, which is kicked off with a fascinating talk on "Transient Bioelectronics" by John A. Rogers of Northwestern University.

A remarkable feature of modern integrated circuit technology is its ability to operate in a stable fashion, with almost perfect reliability, without physical or chemical change. Recently developed classes of electronic materials create an opportunity to engineer the opposite outcome, in the form of ‘transient’ devices that dissolve, disintegrate or otherwise disappear at triggered times or with controlled rates. Water-soluble transient electronics serve as the foundations for interesting applications in zero-impact environmental monitors, 'green' consumer electronics and bio-resorbable biomedical implants. This presentation describes the foundational concepts in chemistry, materials science and assembly processes for bioresorbable electronics in 1D, 2D and 3D architectures, the latter enabled by approaches that draw inspiration from the ancient arts of kirigami and origami. Wireless sensors of intracranial temperature, pressure and electrophysiology for treatment of traumatic brain injury and nerve stimulators for accelerated neuroregeneration provide application examples.

Professor John A. Rogers obtained B.A. and B.S. degrees in chemistry and in physics from the University of Texas, Austin, in 1989. From MIT, he received S.M. degrees in physics and in chemistry in 1992 and the Ph.D. degree in physical chemistry in 1995. From 1995 to 1997, Rogers was a Junior Fellow in the Harvard University Society of Fellows. He joined Bell Laboratories as a Member of Technical Staff in the Condensed Matter Physics Research Department in 1997, and served as Director of this department from the end of 2000 to 2002. He then spent thirteen years on the faculty at University of Illinois, most recently as the Swanlund Chair Professor and Director of the Seitz Materials Research Laboratory. In 2016, he joined Northwestern University as the Louis Simpson and Kimberly Querrey Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Biomedical Engineering and Medicine.