UK researchers have demonstrated a lab-in-a-pill diagnostic device for remotely monitoring temperature and pH in the guts of living animals.

Jon Cooper and colleagues at the Departments of Electronic and Electrical Engineering and the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Glasgow, have made devices that use wireless communication systems to transmit diagnostic data throughout a journey along the alimentary canal. 

The gut is difficult to examine when it is inside a living creature. Doctors and vets have a wealth of techniques at their disposal, but each has its own limitations, so novel alternatives are needed.

Cooper's team demonstrated wireless tracking of their new device inside a pig's gut. The pill was fitted with a magnet that allowed its location to be pinpointed to within a centimetre. External sensors recorded the temperature and pH as the device passed through the alimentary canal. The researchers say that data collected compared very favourably with literature reports. 

The aim of this research is for a human patient to continue with normal daily life while such a diagnostic pill does its work.

Niamh O'Connor