This seminar will present the development of a long-term implantable pressure sensor under Technology Platform 3 of the 12 Labours project. We will introduce the clinical need for pressure measurement within the body and outline the challenges in designing an implantable system capable of accurately measuring pressure for many years.

Robert Gallichan

Research Fellow, Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland

Robert Gallichan graduated from the University of Auckland with a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical and Electronic Engineering in 2013. He completed his PhD thesis in Biomedical Engineering in August 2016 at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute under the supervision of Associate Professors David Budgett and Dr Daniel McCormick. His PhD project focused on using integrated circuits to develop miniature systems for wirelessly transferring power to implantable devices under changing loads and coupling conditions.

Robert's research is focused on developing methods to transfer power and bidirectional data to small, low power implants deep within the body. Transmitting power though inductive coupling involves using a coil outside the body to generate a magnetic field and a small coil implanted within the body to pick up part of the field converting it to an electric current. The same magnetic field can be used to transfer data in and out of the body.

Because magnetic field strength decreases rapidly with the coil separation a key challenge is supplying enough power to the implant. This is exaggerated by the small proportion of magnetic field picked up by a small implant coil. Data transfer out of the body is also difficult of the same reasons.

These challenges are being addressed by developing small, low power integrated circuits that require very little power and use novel strategies to transmit data out of the body.

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