Mc10 nabs $10M to build invisible electronics that monitor your health
December 17, 2012 3:27 PMhttp://venturebeat.com/2012/12/17/mc10-funding/
Mc10 has raised a $10 million funding round to develop its line of wearable electronics that are light and flexible enough to conform to the human body.
The company’s digital products can be placed inside or outside the body; they include sensors that chart blood pressure, brain activity, muscle function and hydration levels. Rather than making traditional electronics smaller, Mc10′s goal is to turn them into flexible systems that are invisible to users, but are constantly working to monitor the body’s core functions.
On the consumer side, where it has received the lion’s share of attention, the company competes with wearable electronics companies like Battle Sports Science and Impakt that produce tools for fitness junkies. Health and fitness is an early focus for MC10 — one of the first products that will hit the market in 2013 is a scullcap that can be worn under helmets by athletes. Developed in partnership with Reebok, it measures the impact of collisions, and will alert athletes and their supporters on the sidelines, if they need to seek medical attention.
Flexible electronics on a person’s arm.
People are increasingly obsessed with monitoring their health (this behavior is viewed in Silicon Valley as part of a budding “Quantified Self” movement), so there is a massive opportunity for the 30-person Cambridge, Mass.-based startup. From a scientific standpoint, the company has an impressive roster of advisors that include Professor George Whitesides, noted biochemist, and Dr. Marvin Slepian, a cardiologist at the University of Arizona.
Today, the company raised capital from medical device-maker Medtronic, and existing venture investors, North Bridge Venture Partners and Braemar Energy Ventures, among others. To date, the founders has received $33 million in funds.
“With a strong set of complementary capabilities, they [our investors] bring much more to MC10 than capital. These partnerships will help MC10 accelerate time-to-market for the products we are developing in consumer, digital health and medical devices,” said David Icke, the company’s CEO in a statement.
A TUMBLOG on Technology Futures by Arthur Douglass Ganss
Making Stretchable Electronics
MC10, a startup in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is getting ready to commercialize high-performance electronics that can stretch. The technology could lead to such products as skin patches that monitor whether the wearer is sufficiently hydrated, or inflatable balloon catheters equipped with sensors that measure electrical misfiring caused by cardiac arrhythmias.
Microelectronics have long “depended on a rigid, brittle wafer,” says David Icke, MC10’s CEO. MC10 uses a few tricks to change that. To make both the hydration-sensing patch and the catheter, gold electrodes and wires just a few hundred nanometers thick are deposited on silicon wafers by conventional means, then peeled off and applied to stretchable polymers. The serpentine wires elongate when the polymers stretch, either when the balloon inflates in the heart or as the patch moves around on the skin. The electrodes measure electrical impedance to detect the electrical signals in cardiac tissue or moisture levels in the skin.
The company is building on lab prototypes made by University of Illinois materials scientist John Rogers, a company cofounder. Rogers’s technologies have advantages over other approaches to flexible electronics. For example, organic polymer electronics can only bend, not stretch, and they are slower than devices made of inorganic semiconductor materials or precious metals such as gold, so they can’t provide precise real-time biological readings.
MC10’s first product, expected to launch in late fall, will be a wearable device developed in a partnership with Reebok. The company is tight-lipped about the details. But in addition to its hydration patch, it is working on patches that use sensors to detect heartbeat, respiration, motion, temperature, blood oxygenation, and combinations of these indicators.
MC10’s skin patches can wirelessly transmit information to a nearby smartphone. A phone with a near-field communication chip can be waved over the patch, or the patch can be paired with a thin-film battery made by a commercial supplier, allowing continuous data transmission.
Next up will be balloon catheters that a cardiologist could snake through the heart to detect areas of misfiring cardiac tissue. Some of the prototypes in preclinical testing have dense arrays of electrodes that allow high-resolution mapping and ablation of that tissue. Further off are other medical devices, including implantable materials that conform to brain tissue, sensing seizures and stopping them.
New flexible sensors on skin yield crucial data
Chips check routine things like hydration, threats like concussion
By Adam Sege
| Globe Correspondent December 31, 2012
RANDALL BOHL
NASCAR driver Paulie Harraka helped test a sensor (on forearm) from MC10 Inc., of Cambridge, that monitors fluid levels.
NASCAR driver Paulie Harraka helped test a sensor (on forearm) from MC10 Inc., of Cambridge, that monitors fluid levels.
But when a University of Illinois engineer, John Rogers, was experimenting with shaving down silicon to smaller, thinner threads in 2004, he discovered the material, which is used for computer chips and circuitry, could stretch and bend in unexpected ways.
“If you look at it under a microscope, it’s like, ‘Holy cow, this is an accordion made out of silicon!’ ” Rogers said. “It was pretty obvious to us at that point that there was something pretty valuable here.”
And now a Cambridge firm that Rogers cofounded is poised to deploy its first wave of products based on the stretchable circuit technology he pioneered. The company, MC10 Inc., is developing flexible electronics for a variety of applications, from the medical world, where its circuits can more closely and precisely monitor heart conditions, to athletics, where its sensors track vital signs and can even detect possible concussions.
And key to MC10’s mission is making devices that are not intrusive or unwieldy, so consumers and patients will be more willing to accept them. Body sensors it plans to release in 2013, for example, are about the size of a postage stamp — a little more than one inch on each side, with the silicon circuitry embedded on a piece of film just 3 millimeters thick that adheres to the skin. MC10 said that later generations of sensors will be even smaller and thinner.
MC10 Inc.’s flexible electronic sensors are about the size of a postage stamp.
Beginning next year, MC10 will roll out its first consumer products.
One is a patch that serves as a hydration monitoring system for runners, cyclists, and other athletes to use on a smartphone or a high-tech watch to monitor fluid levels. Another is a sensor inside a football helmet that can signal when a player may have suffered a concussion.
Such applications can go beyond sports, too. Similar on-the-body sensors from MC10 could ultimately be used to track insulin levels, blood pressure, or exposure to the sun.
On the medical front, MC10 engineers are working with a team at Massachusetts General Hospital to test an inflatable catheter that has a high number of electrodes installed on its balloon-shaped end — two to three times the number found on similar catheters. This will provide physicians with “significantly more data” as they diagnose and treat various heart conditions, said Dr. Roozbeh Ghaffari, director of medical development and one of MC10’s cofounders.
The catheter is still in animal trials at a lab at Massachusetts General, but Dr. Moussa Mansour, the cardiologist overseeing the project, said it could ultimately lead to better care for patients with atrial fibrillation, a heartbeat irregularity that affects millions of people.
Doctors can already treat the condition, Mansour said, but their understanding of the heart’s activity is limited by the amount of information they collect from the small number of electrodes available in current devices.
“There’s a need for high-density mapping,” Mansour said.
Body sensors have been slowly making their way into consumer-level applications in the past few years. Smartphone owners, for instance, can download applications to monitor their heart rate and sleep cycle through a phone’s microphone and motion-sensing technology.
At the elite level, more sophisticated technology similar to that employed by MC10 is being used to help competitive athletes train and perform at higher levels. The governing body for elite athletics in the United Kingdom, for example, joined with leading universities to start an organization devoted to integrating bio-sensing with other technologies for maximizing athletic performance.
And the past few years have seen an explosion in the number of biotech firms pursuing patient-oriented electronics, said Gautam Jaggi, a lead biotechnology analyst at the accounting and consulting firm Ernst and Young.
“We’re seeing more and more technologies that are aimed squarely at patients,” he said. “They’re empowering patients with more information and more control over their health care.
Companies see a convergence of several forces, Jaggi said: Consumers, living in the information age of smartphones and tablets, are keenly interested in information about their own bodies. And with health care costs ballooning, providers see prevention techniques as essential to reining in costs. Chronic diseases bring a particular financial cost, estimated at 75 or 80 percent of health costs in the United States.
“I’ve been studying this industry for a while, and this is probably the most fascinating shift I’ve seen,” Jaggi said. “It really is changing health care and approaching health care fundamentally differently.”
mc10
http://www.nurture.com/tag/mc10/TEDMED Tuesday: Smart-Sensing Technology Holds Great Promise for Future of Healthcare
Posted on Tuesday, July 24, 2012 · Leave a Comment
Imagine a day where diabetes can be managed by a bandage-like device
instead of needle pokes and insulin pumps. Imagine a day where an
implanted smart-sensing sticker can tell a person with a heart condition
that they are exercising too rigorously by communicating the
information to their smartphone. Can you imagine a day where you can
wear your computer like a second skin to manage your health? It might
possible in the near future.
David Icke, chief executive officer of mc10, creates breathable, implantable microcomputers that conform to the human body, which can be used for a variety of medical applications. During his TedMed 2012 keynote address, Icke shares the potential of smart-sensing stickers and how they can advance medical procedures while enhancing life. Traditionally tech devices have been rigid and boxy – until now. While not mainstream yet, the microcomputers seem promising and will add to the evolution of technology, which is the focus of Icke’s discussion.
David Icke
The computer chip invented just a little over 50 years ago has changed our lives in so many ways. In entertainment, communication, computing, how we access information, how we crunch data and get answers, our productivity in our homes and our offices, even our safety systems in our car. We use electronics every day; they are all around us.
Icke became involved in the evolution of electronics after his junior year of college when he got a summer job at IBM working to build devices. He moved to Silicon Valley after college, and now 27 years later he’s still working on them. “We love our electronics; they’ve gotten smaller, cooler, faster, and cheaper. We don’t leave home without them…and some may even sleep next to them,” said Icke.
“If you take a closer look at the electronics we’re using today, they are essentially smaller versions of the ridged bricks they’ve always been. They’re solid, boxy, and often uncomfortable to use,” said Icke. Examples include the laptop, the cell phone, and MP3 players.
“We overlook the inconvenience because the pros outweigh the cons. We babysit our devices to keep them synced and charged. We hold ridged electronics in our laps or against our ears. Inconvenience extends to medical electronics as well; tethered to wires and sensors in the hospitals,” said Icke. Even outside the hospital, medical equipment can prove to be cumbersome when used at home given all the technology.
The problem today, states Icke, is that “we must conform to electronics and we don’t question it, we accept it as inevitable. The other issue is for our bodies and the medical world we haven’t seen the same speed of innovation that we’ve seen in computing and communications.” Icke questions, why?
The fact that computing is still tied to a flat and rigid board, but the world isn’t flat is also part of the problem. “The human body is delicate, soft, flexible and organic,” said Icke. Despite shrinking size and amazing power we still have to adapt to the reality of a flat and ridged technology and how that intersects with an organic world. “But what if electronics were soft and pliable like our skin? What if electronics conform to us instead of us conforming to them?” asks Icke. This creates a new form on which to innovate, and in particular how we can manage our health and how medicine is practiced.
For example, a biostamp is a smart-sensing skin which is very thin and light. Icke likens it to a kids tattoo – apply and forget. The biostamp can be used for many different applications. “We can optimize athletes and war fighters’ performance. We can reduce injury by providing early warning to a change in performance and motion. We can improve our access to healthcare by getting it only if and when it’s needed. They’ve gotten smaller and cooler like the Polar Heart Rate monitor. But the problem is they are still noticeable and annoying. We need a better form,” said Icke.
Smart-sensing sticker
Another example is the smart-sensing sticker. The first concept to understand is thin means flexible. “Making things thinner means creating flexibility, but flexible isn’t enough. Think about wrapping a gift. If the gift is rectangular it’s easy. If it’s the shape of an egg it’s more difficult without folding and making crinkles in the paper unless you do it with stretch wrap or spandex,” said Icke.
Icke challenges the audience to think about how to make electronics thin and conformable. “We build a stretchy mesh with thin electronics printed connected with springy pop up ridges then print it onto thin plastic, like a decal or plastic wrap, which holds the whole mesh together. With this approach we can build body worn stickers that seamlessly measure our body activity, waterproof yet breathable.” Through these smart-sensing stickers it’s possible to obtain signals from the heart, brain, muscle, body temperature and motion, signals from the brain, and even hydration levels.
Icke also discusses significant research being conducted with micro-wearables and smart catheters. This new malleable technology has a multitude of applications both in and out of the medical world.
Icke ends his presentation discussing how “reshaping electronics will change medicine and advance the quality of life. Can you visualize ways that it can benefit your life or someone you know? Helping us get healthy or stay healthy. And the biggest opportunity is to further unlock the mysteries of diseases. Imagine what we don’t know today that we will learn with a closer look at our body’s system which is possible when sensing and computing electronics conform to us,” said Icke. I second that! Imagine what progress we can potentially make in curing so many diseases and solving so many unsolved medical questions by unlocking doors through the use of smart-sensing technology.
I’d love a world where a patch that adhered like a band aid could help my friend control her diabetes or tell my dad if his exercise was too strenuous on his heart that’s now controlled by a pacemaker.
Most of all, I think beyond myself at all the people this smart-sensing technology could help on a daily basis, in the medical field, and overall. The technology seems very promising. I hope it becomes something that is “just” an affordable norm in medicine during my lifetime.
David Icke, chief executive officer of mc10, creates breathable, implantable microcomputers that conform to the human body, which can be used for a variety of medical applications. During his TedMed 2012 keynote address, Icke shares the potential of smart-sensing stickers and how they can advance medical procedures while enhancing life. Traditionally tech devices have been rigid and boxy – until now. While not mainstream yet, the microcomputers seem promising and will add to the evolution of technology, which is the focus of Icke’s discussion.
David Icke
The computer chip invented just a little over 50 years ago has changed our lives in so many ways. In entertainment, communication, computing, how we access information, how we crunch data and get answers, our productivity in our homes and our offices, even our safety systems in our car. We use electronics every day; they are all around us.
Icke became involved in the evolution of electronics after his junior year of college when he got a summer job at IBM working to build devices. He moved to Silicon Valley after college, and now 27 years later he’s still working on them. “We love our electronics; they’ve gotten smaller, cooler, faster, and cheaper. We don’t leave home without them…and some may even sleep next to them,” said Icke.
“If you take a closer look at the electronics we’re using today, they are essentially smaller versions of the ridged bricks they’ve always been. They’re solid, boxy, and often uncomfortable to use,” said Icke. Examples include the laptop, the cell phone, and MP3 players.
“We overlook the inconvenience because the pros outweigh the cons. We babysit our devices to keep them synced and charged. We hold ridged electronics in our laps or against our ears. Inconvenience extends to medical electronics as well; tethered to wires and sensors in the hospitals,” said Icke. Even outside the hospital, medical equipment can prove to be cumbersome when used at home given all the technology.
The problem today, states Icke, is that “we must conform to electronics and we don’t question it, we accept it as inevitable. The other issue is for our bodies and the medical world we haven’t seen the same speed of innovation that we’ve seen in computing and communications.” Icke questions, why?
The fact that computing is still tied to a flat and rigid board, but the world isn’t flat is also part of the problem. “The human body is delicate, soft, flexible and organic,” said Icke. Despite shrinking size and amazing power we still have to adapt to the reality of a flat and ridged technology and how that intersects with an organic world. “But what if electronics were soft and pliable like our skin? What if electronics conform to us instead of us conforming to them?” asks Icke. This creates a new form on which to innovate, and in particular how we can manage our health and how medicine is practiced.
For example, a biostamp is a smart-sensing skin which is very thin and light. Icke likens it to a kids tattoo – apply and forget. The biostamp can be used for many different applications. “We can optimize athletes and war fighters’ performance. We can reduce injury by providing early warning to a change in performance and motion. We can improve our access to healthcare by getting it only if and when it’s needed. They’ve gotten smaller and cooler like the Polar Heart Rate monitor. But the problem is they are still noticeable and annoying. We need a better form,” said Icke.
Smart-sensing sticker
Another example is the smart-sensing sticker. The first concept to understand is thin means flexible. “Making things thinner means creating flexibility, but flexible isn’t enough. Think about wrapping a gift. If the gift is rectangular it’s easy. If it’s the shape of an egg it’s more difficult without folding and making crinkles in the paper unless you do it with stretch wrap or spandex,” said Icke.
Icke challenges the audience to think about how to make electronics thin and conformable. “We build a stretchy mesh with thin electronics printed connected with springy pop up ridges then print it onto thin plastic, like a decal or plastic wrap, which holds the whole mesh together. With this approach we can build body worn stickers that seamlessly measure our body activity, waterproof yet breathable.” Through these smart-sensing stickers it’s possible to obtain signals from the heart, brain, muscle, body temperature and motion, signals from the brain, and even hydration levels.
Icke also discusses significant research being conducted with micro-wearables and smart catheters. This new malleable technology has a multitude of applications both in and out of the medical world.
Icke ends his presentation discussing how “reshaping electronics will change medicine and advance the quality of life. Can you visualize ways that it can benefit your life or someone you know? Helping us get healthy or stay healthy. And the biggest opportunity is to further unlock the mysteries of diseases. Imagine what we don’t know today that we will learn with a closer look at our body’s system which is possible when sensing and computing electronics conform to us,” said Icke. I second that! Imagine what progress we can potentially make in curing so many diseases and solving so many unsolved medical questions by unlocking doors through the use of smart-sensing technology.
I’d love a world where a patch that adhered like a band aid could help my friend control her diabetes or tell my dad if his exercise was too strenuous on his heart that’s now controlled by a pacemaker.
Most of all, I think beyond myself at all the people this smart-sensing technology could help on a daily basis, in the medical field, and overall. The technology seems very promising. I hope it becomes something that is “just” an affordable norm in medicine during my lifetime.
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