Researchers have developed an ultra-small wireless antenna small enough to fit inside the human body, a breakthrough that could allow doctors to diagnose, monitor and treat conditions like epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease from within. The new technology, called µBots (microbots), is smaller than a millimetre wide and designed to be implanted in patients for round-the-clock health monitoring without the need for bulky external equipment.
Unlike traditional radio-frequency antennas used in existing implants, which generate heat and require larger batteries, the new magnetoelectric antennas combine acoustic and electromagnetic physics. This allows them to run cooler and transmit larger volumes of data through human tissue to external receivers. In tests on rat brain tissue, human cortical brain slices and controlled cell cultures, the antennas showed consistent performance. The study also found that using multiple µBots together helped overcome alignment problems between the implants and external devices, improving communication reliability.
Researchers say the technology could support earlier diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases, improve targeted drug delivery and enhance neuromodulation treatments. Dr Mahdieh Shojaei Baghini from the University of Glasgow’s James Watt School of Engineering said the µBots “harness the potential of acoustic resonance to address many of the issues which have held back the technology to date.” She added that the devices can transmit data in a way that can be easily received by existing transceiver technology.
The findings, published in the journal Science Advances, represent a step toward fully enclosed implantable devices that are not tethered to external machines. Dr Adam Armada-Moreira, a neuroscientist at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and a co-author of the study, said the technology could let researchers “map and modulate neural circuits with higher spatial selectivity while stable telemetry supports chronic electrophysiology and neuromodulation studies.”
Professor Hadi Heidari, who leads the Microelectronics Lab at the University of Glasgow, called the results “significant” and said they build on previous research to demonstrate the potential for µBots to deliver “transformative results for clinicians and for patients alike.” The team now plans to refine the technology for eventual clinical trials, offering hope for a new generation of smart, wireless medical implants.