Prof John Rogers, Simpson/Querrey Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Biomedical Engineering and Medicine at Northwestern University, USA

Biology is soft, curvilinear and transient; conventional semiconductor technologies are hard, planar and everlasting. Development of electronic and optoelectronic systems that eliminate this profound mismatch in properties will establish foundations for devices that can intimately integrate with the body, to provided unique, important modes of operation with relevance in biomedical research and clinical healthcare. Over the last decade, a convergence of new concepts in materials science, electrical engineering and advanced manufacturing has led to the emergence of diverse, novel classes of 'biocompatible' electronic platforms. This talk describes the key ideas, with examples ranging from wireless, skin-like electronic 'tattoos' for continuous monitoring of physiological health, to bioresorbable nerve stimulators for accelerated neuroregeneration.