Design EAST: Sensors needed for medtech devices

Design EAST: Sensors needed for medtech devices

BOSTON – Engineers need to develop a new generation of biological sensors to attack genetic causes of cancer. That’s just one of several medical conditions where electronics will play an increasing role, said a medical electronics expert at Freescale during DESIGN East here.

Antigen and antibody sensors can detect viruses that could reduce the spread of cancer cells, said Jose Fernandez Villasenor, a medical doctor and engineer with Freescale Semiconductor. Researchers believe certain viruses can insert their DNA into human cells, healing genetic damage that leads to cancer, he said.

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The antigen sensors are just one of several classes of sensors in development at Freescale labs and elsewhere. Others check for specific ions or the Ph level of body fluids, for example.

“There’s a wide market for these in communicable and genetic diseases,” said Villasenor who serves as a medical product marketing and engineering manager at Freescale. “We need high sensitivity sensors--including sensors that can be implanted--for cancer, endocrine, renal and pulmonary disorders,” he said.

Villasenor listed a dozen other electronics devices the medical community needs to address non-communicable diseases that cause as many as 36 million deaths each year. They included digital stethoscopes that can “detect small changes in heart sounds [not picked up by human hearing] that will help make a better diagnosis,” he said.


Villasenor holds degrees in both medicine and electrical engineering.


TAG:Medical Electronics Digital Stethoscopes Design East Sensors Freescale Medical Health Disease Cancer Diabetes Zigbee Bluetooth DNA SpirometersMedical Electronics Digital Stethoscopes De