BME Seminar – Polymer Bioelectronics: Enabling Adaptive and Living Biointerfaces for Bioelectronic Therapies

Join us for a presentation and discussion featuring Rylie Green, a professor of Polymer Bioelectronics and Head of the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London.

Abstract

Polymer Bioelectronics: Enabling Adaptive and Living Biointerfaces for Bioelectronic Therapies

Biomedical devices are traditionally designed as synthetic systems that are placed in or on the body to record, stimulate, support or deliver therapy. However, their long-term success depends on more than device performance alone. It depends on the quality of the interface formed between engineered materials and living tissues. This interface must accommodate mechanical mismatch, biological response, cellular organisation, tissue remodelling and the dynamic nature of the body itself.

This seminar will describe how polymer bioelectronics can be used to bring together the synthetic and the living. Beginning with conductive biomaterials and fully polymeric device platforms, the talk will introduce soft electrodes, conductive hydrogels and conductive elastomers designed to improve electrical communication while better matching the mechanical and biological properties of tissue. These materials provide a foundation for adaptive neural interfaces, wearable physiological sensors and localised bioelectronic therapies.

The seminar will then move from materials and devices toward more biologically integrated interfaces. This includes cell-interfacing bioelectronic materials, tissue-engineered constructs and the concept of living bionics, where engineered cells, scaffolds and electronic systems are combined to create interfaces that can integrate with, guide and respond to the nervous system. Finally, the talk will consider how these approaches can work with the body’s endogenous tissues, including regenerative peripheral nerve interfaces, biohybrid neural repair strategies and electrically controlled therapeutic delivery.

Together, these examples illustrate a shift from bioelectronics as inert hardware toward bioelectronic systems that are soft, adaptive, therapeutic and biologically engaged. By designing across the boundary between synthetic materials and living systems, polymer bioelectronics offers new opportunities for neural engineering, regenerative medicine, wearable monitoring and bioelectronic therapies.

Bio

Professor Rylie Green is the Sir Leon Bagrit Chair in Bioengineering, Head of the Department of Bioengineering and a professor of Polymer Bioelectronics at Imperial College London. Her research develops soft, conductive and biologically integrated materials for implantable and wearable bioelectronic devices. Her work spans polymer neural interfaces, regenerative biointerfaces, living bionics, wearable EEG and EMG technologies, and bioelectronic drug delivery for localized therapy. She has secured more than $47 million in research funding, published more than 200 scientific outputs and holds patents in conductive polymer-based materials. Her research has supported clinical collaborations, industry partnerships and translation through start-up activity, including Polymer Bionics Ltd and BiopCE Ltd. She is a fellow of the IET, a senior member of IEEE and has held editorial and leadership roles across bioengineering, biomaterials and bioelectronic medicine.