THE FUTURE OF HUMAN AUGMENTATION
DR DAVID CHENELER, SENIOR LECTURER IN ENGINEERING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LANCASTER, SHEDS SOME LIGHT ON HOW AUGMENTATION MIGHT ALLOW US TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OURSELVES
Could implanted devices monitor the health of different organs?
Absolutely. Some of the stuff I’m working on are sensors for personalised health monitoring, but drug release as well.
This will be a system that’s implanted and releases drugs on command. You can currently get drugs that are implanted in the skin that slowly release the drug over time as they dissolve in the blood. But we can also have more active systems that can release drugs when necessary. This could be controlled by an external device. It could be controlled as a closed-loop system, as in it could be the sensors themselves responding and therefore could be fully automated. Imagine a scenario whereby the sensors are monitoring health signals, and these signals go up to a doctor or a care provider. They could trigger a response as a result.