Johns Hopkins on the chip: microsystems and cognitive machines for sustainable, affordable, personalised medicine and healthcare

Abstract

Semiconductor technology is contributing to the advancement of biotechnology, medicine and healthcare delivery in ways that it was never envisioned – from chip micro-arrays, to scientific grade CMOS imagers and ion sensing arrays to implantable prosthesis. This exponential growth of sensory microsystems has led to an exponential growth of data. Cognitive machines, i.e. advanced computer architectures and algorithms, are carefully co-designed to extract knowledge from such health data making rational decisions and recommendations for therapies. Nano, micro and macro robotics driven by sophisticated algorithms interface to the human body at different levels and scales, from nano-scale molecules to micron-scale cells to networks and all the way to the scale of organisms. The present era is one where semiconductor technology and the ‘chip’ is the foundation of sustainable and affordable personalised medicine and healthcare delivery.