John, thanks for meeting with us today.
>> Yeah, thanks for having me.
>> So a bit about the work that you're doing
and it's applications.
>> Yeah, sure.
So I'm a electronic materials scientist.
So we're interested in new kinds of materials that can be used
for integrated circuits or [inaudible] devices,
various types and so on.
And one of the areas that we've been focusing
on over the years is trying to adapt electronics to enable sort
of highly intimate,
highly functional interfaces with the human body.
If you think about consumer electronics that exist today,
it's largely plainer and rigid and brittle in its construction.
And that's a reflection of the fact
that all integrated circuits that have every been built
and sold commercially have been farmed on the surfaces
of [inaudible] which essentially have properties of plated glass
and are very thin and brittle.
And that's great for a cellphone, you want to put it
in your pocket, you don't necessarily need to bend it.
But if you want a highly functional interface
to the human body, you need a whole different setup,
geometrical, mechanical properties.
Because the skin, the heart, the brain,
I mean they have contoured surfaces and soft materials.
And so if we can work out how
to configure electronic devices generally to enable that kind
of interface with the body, with the idea
that the successful outcome
in that direction could really profoundly the way we think
about human healthcare.
>> So I know you mentioned that you know,
these things could lower the cost of healthcare.
Is it because the materials are cheaper?
How does that work?
>> Well, so you know, there is a cost to the device, right.
So not everybody's wearing a health monitor right now.
I mean I think that's a vision in the future.
So at one very basic level you say oh that's increasing the
cost because now everybody has to buy a health monitor
where in the past they've never used before.
But the idea is that if you are wearing this health monitor
and patch it allows you to catch disease stakes far earlier
and so it allows preventative care
that has a huge beneficial impact on the cost
because the procedural costs are not so high
if you catch it early.
So that would be the rationale.
It's a relatively modest upfront cost with a huge benefit
down the line in terms of overall health.
>> John, you know a really interesting part,
there's a theme in our course that we're seeing
through this digital revolution that the tools
that were once held by the few and were very large
and expensive, are now available to many
and they're smaller and much cheaper.