In a breakthrough that sounds like science fiction, researchers have developed a tiny, swallowable capsule that can talk to gut bacteria—and take commands from a smartphone.
This high-tech capsule, tested in pigs, could one day help doctors diagnose and treat gut diseases like colitis more precisely and effectively.
The research, published in Nature Microbiology, focuses on the trillions of microbes that live in our digestive system.
These gut bacteria play an important role in our overall health, but scientists have long struggled to control or communicate with them once they’re inside the body.
To solve this problem, a team led by Hanjie Wang engineered a strain of E. coli—a common type of bacteria—to respond to light signals and send messages back using bioluminescence, or glowing light.
Then, they designed a small electronic capsule that can be swallowed and used to communicate with these engineered bacteria using light.
The capsule, powered by tiny batteries and fitted with a specially designed circuit board, connects to a smartphone app via Bluetooth.
Once inside the body, it can detect signals sent from the bacteria and also send instructions back using its built-in LED light.
To test their invention, the team used three pigs that had been given colitis, a condition involving inflammation of the colon.
These pigs were given the engineered E. coli, which had been designed to glow when they detected nitrate—a chemical marker linked to inflammation in the gut.
Once the capsule was ingested, it picked up this glowing signal from the bacteria and sent the information to the smartphone app, allowing the researchers to “see” the inflammation from the outside. But it didn’t stop there.
Through the app, the researchers could then send a signal back to the capsule, instructing it to flash its LED light. This light triggered a special genetic switch in the bacteria, causing them to release anti-inflammatory antibodies right at the site of inflammation. The result? A measurable improvement in the pigs’ colitis symptoms.
This two-way communication between electronics and gut microbes could represent a new frontier in medicine. Not only does it allow doctors to monitor what’s happening inside the gut in real time, but it also lets them deliver treatments precisely where and when they’re needed—all controlled from a smartphone.
Although the technology is still in the early stages, the researchers believe that with further development and clinical testing, it could eventually be used to treat human conditions like inflammatory bowel disease, using smart capsules and engineered microbes as a personalized medicine toolkit.
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