Executive Summary: Since Prof. Rogers' pioneering work in 2021 (Science 2021, 333, 838), tissue-like soft bioelectronics has experienced unprecedented progress. Coupled with artificial intelligence (AI) and big data tools, it has begun to revolutionize a variety of fields, especially precision healthcare. As illustrated in the figure above, we envision that next-generation soft bioelectronics will be intelligent and capable of continuously collecting comprehensive, real-time, 24/7 data—such as electrophysiological, biophysical, and biochemical signals—from the human body. These systems will be wirelessly connected to user-interactive devices and will leverage AI to analyze collected data, predict body conditions, and autonomously administer on-demand interventions. We envision a future where intelligent, human-centered bioelectronics seamlessly integrate with daily life—providing continuous, autonomous, and AI-powered healthcare monitoring and intervention. By enabling seamless, around-the-clock health monitoring and responsive treatment, this cutting-edge bio-technology has the potential to transform precision human healthcare, significantly enhancing patient outcomes and quality of life. In research, soft bioelectronics will advance our fundamental understanding of dynamic human physiology and phenotypic transitions from health to disease. In wellness, it will open new possibilities for continuous fitness and training monitoring. Clinically, it is shifting healthcare from a hospital-based model to a human-centered approach—offering personalized diagnostics and therapies anytime and anywhere. Additionally, human-centered personalized healthcare powered by soft bioelectronics, with its unparalleled universality, can help bridge healthcare disparities between urban and rural regions. Within this context, our ambitious goal is to advance precision healthcare through fundamental innovations in soft electronics, spanning multifunctional soft materials for reshaping device-biology interfacing, innovative bio-manufacturing, and customized healthcare applications, as detailed below.
Innovating Soft Materials to Enable Long-Term Biocompatible and Dynamically Reliable Device-Biology Interface: Our research in this direction focuses on understanding device-biology interactions and developing novel soft materials with built-in multifunctionality to achieve soft bioelectronics with unparalleled long-term biocompatibility and exceptional reliability under dynamic bodily conditions. Over the past decade, substantial progress has been made in designing soft bioelectronics with high flexibility, stretchability, and advanced integration of electronic components into wireless systems. However, existing soft bioelectronics typically lack the necessary longevity (weeks to months) due to poor long-term biocompatibility, degradation, and artifacts caused by dynamic bodily and environmental conditions. To enable long-term, real-world applications, soft bioelectronics must meet a variety of critical criteria, such as those illustrated in the figure above. Our SMBE lab has pioneered the development of multifunctional soft materials to enable long-term usable bioelectronics. In recent studies, we have created porous soft bioelectronics which features ultrasoftness, high breathability, outstanding antimicrobial properties, and strain-insensitive electrical conductance (Advanced Materials 2018, 30, 1804327; PNAS 2020, 117, 205; ACS Nano 2022, 16, 5874; Science Advances 2023, 9, eadf0575; Advanced Functional Materials 2023, 2302681; Nature Nanotechnology 2024, 19, 1158-1167; Advanced Materials 2024, 36, 2411587; and Materials Today 2025, 82, 123-138). Our future efforts will center on creating soft bioelectronic materials with additional key features, such as smart adhesion, motion artifact resilience, noise damping, immunomodulation, and strain-insensitive electrochemical and semiconductive properties, through judicious molecular and structural engineering and AI-driven material discovery. We will investigate their interfacing with various biological tissues via comprehensive animal and human studies. Through fundamental soft biomaterials innovations, we aim to push the boundaries of what is possible, developing new materials that will constitute soft bioelectronics with unprecedented chronic biocompatibility and reliability under long-term, dynamic bodily and life conditions, significantly impacting personalized healthcare and beyond.
Advancing Bio-Manufacturing of Soft Bioelectronics: Our research in this area focuses on developing cutting-edge bio-manufacturing techniques for rapid prototyping and large-scale production of soft bioelectronics with customized functions. These devices, designed for direct contact with the skin or other organs, play a critical role in physiological monitoring and therapeutic interventions. Ideally, they should be disposable (one-time use) to minimize infection risks. Moreover, fabricating soft bioelectronics with customized functions is essential to meet the diverse needs of individuals based on their unique physiological conditions, lifestyles, and environments, ultimately advancing precision healthcare. Currently, the predominant method for fabricating bioelectronics relies on cleanroom-based nano/microfabrication techniques, such as electron-beam or photolithography, vacuum deposition, etching, and transfer printing. While effective, these methods are costly, labor-intensive, and lack design flexibility. To address these limitations, our SMBE lab has been pioneering innovative bio-manufacturing approaches—including pencil drawing, laser scribing, and solution printing (PNAS 2020, 117, 18292; Science Advances 2022, 8, eabp9734; and Advanced Materials 2024, 36, 2411587)—to enable cost-effective, customizable, high-throughput production of soft bioelectronics. Our ultimate vision is to develop autonomous, AI-powered, closed-loop bio-manufacturing systems capable of producing high-quality, multimaterial, multilayer soft bioelectronics on demand. Imagine a future where bioelectronic printers, akin to standard office printers, are readily available in clinical settings. Healthcare providers could use these systems to fabricate patient-specific bioelectronics in real time, optimizing diagnostics and treatment while enhancing accessibility and affordability. We believe our efforts will drive transformative advancements in precision healthcare, making it more personalized and cost-effective.
Customized Precision Healthcare Applications: Our research in this area focuses on the design, fabrication, and evaluation of customized soft bioelectronics aimed at addressing critical healthcare challenges. The human body naturally generates a rich array of physiological signals that provide valuable clinical insights into health conditions and serve as early indicators of various diseases. Timely and on-demand interventions before disease progression can significantly improve patient outcomes. To achieve this, it is crucial to develop intelligent bioelectronic systems integrated with AI, capable of generating predictive, personalized health insights and administering responsive treatments. At the SMBE Lab, we are dedicated to advancing multimodal, closed-loop soft bioelectronic systems that can simultaneously record interrelated biophysical and biochemical signals while providing feedback-based interventions, such as on-demand drug delivery and modulated electrical stimulation. Through in-vivo studies, these cutting-edge bioelectronic technologies help uncover pathological mechanisms, identify digital biomarkers, and enable early diagnosis, timely treatment, and proactive disease management. Currently, our efforts focus on developing customized soft bioelectronics for heart disease management and chronic wound treatment. For example, our recent research demonstrates that concurrent recording of cardiac electrical and mechanical signals, combined with machine learning-based data analysis, enables high-fidelity diagnosis of various heart conditions (Science Advances 2025). Meanwhile, we are also exploring their applications in older adult care, neural/brain interfacing, and other areas to expand the impact of soft bioelectronics-driven precision healthcare. By integrating real-time physiological data with AI-drievn analytics, our research aims to bridge the gap between patients and clinicians, enabling tailored therapeutic strategies that optimize patient care. Ultimately, these advances will improve health outcomes and enhance accessibility, affordability, and the overall quality of life for individuals worldwide.