7

Identification of the Scientific and

Technological Trajectory in the Area

of Bioelectronics: A Patent and

Networks Analysis

Alejandro Barragán-Ocaña and Paz Silva-Borjas

Center for Economic, Administrative and Social Research (CIECAS), National Polytechnic Institute (IPN),

Mexico City, Mexico

María de los Ángeles Olvera-Treviño

Faculty of Chemistry, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Metrology Unit, Mexico City,

Mexico

CONTENTS

7.1 Introduction........................................................................................................................109

7.2 Scientific and Technological Advances in Bioelectronics...........................................110

7.3 Methodology ......................................................................................................................112

7.4 Analysis and Discussion of Results ...............................................................................113

7.5 Conclusions.........................................................................................................................118

Acknowledgments......................................................................................................................120

References ....................................................................................................................................120

7.1 Introduction

The application of electric current to a biological system (frog legs) by Luigi Galvani is

considered to be the birth of bioelectronics. Nowadays, progress in this discipline is re­

markable, and it has multiple health care and environmental protection applications.

Besides electronics and biology, bioelectronics integrates elements of other fields, such as

small-scale technologies and bionanotechnology applications. This context favors the

integration of biomaterials with electronic or electrical applications that can be materi­

alized into useful devices. Among these developments are biosensors used to measure

glucose; devices intended to restore physiological functions, such as cochlear implants; as

well as other instruments that allow for insights into the communication between living

cells and the environment [1,2]. Other contemporary bioelectronic applications are im­

plantable cardioverter defibrillators and human-machine interfaces for the disabled [3].

Bioelectronics is a relatively young discipline, but its evolution has already produced

complex devices for application in multiple types of tissues [4]. Interdisciplinarity is an

DOI: 10.1201/9781003263265-7

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