The Department of Defense has provided a $1.6 million grant to Clemson University's Center for Bioelectronics, Biosensors and Biochips (C3B) to develop microchips implantable in the brains of soldiers.  These microchips will monitor the "chipped" individual's health status and wirelessly relay information to health practitioners, who will be better equipped to make life-saving medical interventions.

The chips, about the size of a rice grain, can be implanted post-injury during triaging, or prior to injury.  In either case, detailed information about an individual's oxygen, glucose, and lactate levels in blood and tissue will be accurately measured.  Researchers and DoD believe the information will enhance care following mass injury scenarios, improve diabetes care, transplant organ health, and intensive care treatment through real-time monitoring, and grant NASA greater monitoring of Astronauts' health while in space.

“We now lose a large percentage of patients to bleeding, and getting vital information such as how much oxygen is in the tissue back to ER physicians and medical personnel can often mean the difference between life and death,” said C3B Director Guiseppi-Elie. “Our goal is to improve the quality and expediency of care for fallen soldiers and civilian trauma victims.” The biochip also may be injected as a precaution to future traumas."

In the past, biochips were identified as foreign objects by the body and rejected.  To overcome this problem, Clemson scientists created a gel that mimics human tissue and reduces the chances of the body rejecting the biochip. The researchers predict the biochip is five years away from human trials.

Some soldiers fear that the biochip might be used to put them under surveillance, even when they are off duty.  The technology could certainly make testing for alcohol abuse, drugs, and sexually transmitted diseases much easier and likely in the future.  So it's no surprise not everyone is welcoming the chips.

The British Government is experimenting with similar devices.  To combat overcrowding in their prison systems, the government decided to release low-level offenders but monitor their whereabouts at all times via microchips, similar to the one Clemson is developing.  For more information, check out our recent On the Horizon column on the topic entitled Flesh and Chips.