Organic Bioelectronics

An organic electronic ion pump (OEIP). The device uses electrophoretic transport through thin polymer films to deliver ions, neurotransmitters, plant hormones, and other small charged molecules into living tissue.
An organic electronic ion pump (OEIP). The device uses electrophoretic transport through thin polymer films to deliver ions, neurotransmitters, plant hormones, and other small charged molecules into living tissue.

Communicating across the biology-technology divide.

Principal investigator: Daniel Simon

jonpump 2015 Animals, plants, and all biological systems communicate in a language of ions and molecules. Modern technology, on the other hand, relies on a language of electrons. With organic electronic materials’ unique properties, we develop “bilingual” tools to bridge this gap.

Organic electronic materials possess a combination of both electronic and ionic/molecular conductivity. They have thus emerged as excellent tools for developing hybrid technologies that effectively interface biological systems with modern electronic technology such as computers and mobile phones – thus the field of organic bioelectronics.

In the Organic Bioelectronics group at the Laboratory of Organic Electronics, we investigate this transduction between electronic signals and ionic/molecular signals with self-organising in vivo electrode materials, “iontronic” chemical delivery and circuitry, bacteria-electronic interfaces, biosensors, biomimetic systems, and many other areas.

We aim to elucidate fundamental processes in biochemistry and physiology, as well as develop tools for next-generation therapies, human-machine interfacing, and blurring the border between living and technological systems.

Body illustration above: Organic bioelectronics for pain therapy in the spinal cord. The ion pump delivers therapeutic neurotransmitters precisely at the location of pain signaling.

Organic Bioelectronics research leaders

Major projects

News about Organic Bioelectronics

Translucent droplet on an electronic circiut.

Electrodes grown in the brain

The boundaries between biology and technology are becoming blurred. Researchers at Linköping, Lund, and Gothenburg universities in Sweden have successfully grown electrodes in living tissue using the body’s molecules as triggers.

Two droplets, one yellow and one clear, on circuits.

Accurate drug dosages with proton traps

Researchers at LiU have developed a proton trap that makes organic electronic ion pumps more precise when delivering drugs. In the long term, the ion pumps may help patients with symptoms of neurological diseases.

Johannes Gladisch

An electronic signal expands the material by a factor of 100

Researchers at the Laboratory of Organic Electronics have discovered a material that can both increase and reduce its volume when exposed to a weak electrical pulse. In a filter, the researchers can control the size of particles that pass through.

Organic Bioelectronics group members

Publications in Organic Bioelectronics

2024

Diana Priyadarshini, Changbai Li, Rebecka Rilemark, Tobias Abrahamsson, Mary Donahue, Xenofon Strakosas, Fredrik Ek, Roger Olsson, Chiara Musumeci, Simone Fabiano, Magnus Berggren, Eva Olsson, Daniel Simon, Jennifer Gerasimov (2024) Tuning the Organic Electrochemical Transistor (OECT) Threshold Voltage with Monomer Blends Advanced Electronic Materials (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Fredrik Ek, Tobias Abrahamsson, Marios Savvakis, Stefan Bormann, Abdelrazek H. Mousa, Muhammad Anwar Shameem, Karin Hellman, Amit Singh Yadav, Lazaro Hiram Betancourt, Peter Ekstrom, Jennifer Gerasimov, Daniel Simon, Gyorgy Marko-Varga, Martin Hjort, Magnus Berggren, Xenofon Strakosas, Roger Olsson (2024) In Vivo Photopolymerization: Achieving Detailed Conducting Patterns for Bioelectronics Advanced Science (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Changbai Li, Sajjad Naeimipour, Fatemeh Rasti Boroojeni, Tobias Abrahamsson, Xenofon Strakosas, Yangpeiqi Yi, Rebecka Rilemark, Caroline Lindholm, Venkata Perla, Chiara Musumeci, Yuyang Li, Hanne Biesmans, Marios Savvakis, Eva Olsson, Klas Tybrandt, Mary Donahue, Jennifer Gerasimov, Robert Selegård, Magnus Berggren, Daniel Aili, Daniel Simon (2024) Engineering Conductive Hydrogels with Tissue-like Properties: A 3D Bioprinting and Enzymatic Polymerization Approach SMALL SCIENCE (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Bernhard Burtscher, Chiara Diacci, Anatolii Makhinia, Marios Savvakis, Erik O. Gabrielsson, Lothar Veith, Xianjie Liu, Xenofon Strakosas, Daniel T. Simon (2024) Functionalization of PEDOT:PSS for aptamer-based sensing of IL6 using organic electrochemical transistors npj Biosensing, Vol. 1, Article 7 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Ihor Sahalianov, Tobias Abrahamsson, Diana Priyadarshini, Abdelrazek H. Mousa, Katriann Arja, Jennifer Y. Gerasimov, Mathieu Linares, Daniel T. Simon, Roger Olsson, Glib Baryshnikov, Magnus Berggren, Chiara Musumeci (2024) Tuning the Emission of Bis-ethylenedioxythiophene-thiophenes upon Aggregation Journal of Physical Chemistry B (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Tomohiro Shiraki, Yoshiaki Niidome, Arghyamalya Roy, Magnus Berggren, Daniel Simon, Eleni Stavrinidou, Gábor Méhes (2024) Single-walled Carbon Nanotubes Wrapped with Charged Polysaccharides Enhance Extracellular Electron Transfer ACS Applied Bio Materials, Vol. 7, p. 5651-5661 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Verena Handl, Linda Waldherr, Theresia Arbring Sjöström, Tobias Abrahamsson, Maria S Seitanidou, Sabine Erschen, Astrid Gorischek, Iwona Bernacka Wojcik, Helena Saarela, Tamara Tomin, Sophie Elisabeth Honeder, Joachim Distl, Waltraud Huber, Martin Asslaber, Ruth Birner-Gruenberger, Ute Schaefer, Magnus Berggren, Rainer Schindl, Silke Patz, Daniel Simon, Nassim Ghaffari-Tabrizi-Wizsy (2024) Continuous iontronic chemotherapy reduces brain tumor growth in embryonic avian in vivo models Journal of Controlled Release, Vol. 369, p. 668-683 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

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