In recent years, the boundaries between technology and biology are blurring. A group of researchers from the Universities of Linköping, Lund and Gothenburg in Sweden have successfully grown electrodes in living tissue using the body’s molecules as triggers. The result, published in the journal Science, makes it possible, in the future, for the formation of fully integrated electronic circuits in living organisms.

Linking electronic systems to biological tissue is essential to improve the understanding of complex biological functions, combat brain diseases or develop future human-machine interfaces. “For several decades, we have tried to create electronic products that mimic biology. Now let’s let biology create the electronics for us,” says Professor Magnus Berggren of Linköping University.

To bridge this gap between biology and technology, the research group has developed a system to create soft, substrate-free electronic conductive materials in living tissue. By injecting a gel containing enzymes as “assembly molecules,” the researchers were able to grow electrodes in the living tissue of zebrafish and medicinal leeches.

This study paves the way for a new paradigm in bioelectronics. Where previously implanted physical objects were needed to initiate electronic processes in the body, injection of a viscous gel will suffice in the future. “Our results open up entirely new ways of thinking about biology and electronics. We still have a number of problems to solve, but this study is a good starting point for future research,” says Hanne Biesmans, one of the lead authors.