A research team at New York University Abu Dhabi has developed a capsule that emits blue light, which is used to stimulate intestinal nerves, providing a method to study digestive and metabolic disorders and potentially treat them without surgical intervention.

The new technology, called “Optogenetic Stimulation Capsules” (ICOPS), was developed by a team led by Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering at NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Tandon School of Engineering, Khalil Ramadi.

The capsules deliver blue light to the digestive system to stimulate nerve cells, which naturally are not light-sensitive, so they are genetically modified in advance to become optically excitable and are precisely controlled using blue light.

This research, published in the journal Advanced Materials Technologies, demonstrates the ability of the new technology to excite and inhibit nerve cells in the digestive system without surgical intervention.

Khalil Ramadi said, “Considering our attempts to study and identify intestinal nerve functions, no good tools are available; they are primitive.” Current methods rely on surgical interventions implanting optical fibers, while the new technology modifies some intestinal nerve cells to respond to blue light emitted from the capsule swallowed by the patient. He explained, “We start by modifying a section of nerve cells to become sensitive to blue light, then the capsule can be swallowed to control those specific cells.”

The capsule contains no battery; it operates on wireless power using magnetic induction.

Postdoctoral researcher at NYU Abu Dhabi and lead author of the study, Mohammed Al-Sharif, said, “The capsule is unique in that it was entirely made in the lab using 3D printing technology, without the need for costly cleanroom facilities, and it operates wirelessly, enabling experiments and tests that were not possible with traditional tools.”