Welcome at Medical Delta WIRED
"At the heart of bioelectricity"

The Medical Delta Knowledge Institute for Bioelectric Medicine (Medical Delta WIRED) is an transdisciplinary institute focusing on diseases caused by bioelectrical dysfunction of organs.

Medical Delta

Medical Delta WIRED is part of Medical Delta, a transdisciplinary collaboration of more than 360 scientists from Erasmus University, Erasmus MC, TU Delft, LUMC, Leiden University, and four universities of applied sciences. Together with companies, healthcare institutions, and governments, they work on technological healthcare solutions. Medical Delta does this with interdisciplinary scientific programs and practical field and living labs. Medical Delta is the hub of the Health & Technology ecosystem in the province of Zuid-Holland and beyond. More information can be found at medicaldelta.nl

Bioelectricity as gamechanger in healthcare

Bioelectronic medicine encompasses innovative approaches to detect and treat diseases by utilizing bioelectricity. Bioelectricity refers to generation of electrical currents by conversion of chemical energy produced by living organisms. Bioelectrical signals are at the heart of cell-cell communication and therefore essential for organization, morphogenesis, and regeneration of cells.

Bioelectrical dysfunction causes dysfunctional organs and hence a variety of challenging diseases, for example cardiovascular, neuromuscular-, skin- neurological-, auto-immune-, psychiatric-, metabolic diseases and cancer. Deciphering bioelectricity and subsequently modulating it revolutionizes prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment of these diseases.

Vision and ambition

Our vision is to deciphere the organ-specific bioelectrical language and subsequently modulate it in order to revolutionize prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment of diseases caused by bioelectrical dysfunction. The ambition is to restore a healthy, bio-electrical function by capturing, analyzing and modulating an individual’s bioelectronic signals. The Medical Delta Knowledge Institute for Bioelectrical Medicine (Medical Delta WIRED) will lay the foundation of near-future mainstream therapy for some major current health issues.

Goals

Our overarching goals are to

• create organ specific bioelectrical atlas by analyzing bioelectrical signaling governing organ (dys) function in a subset of diseases
• develop and test interface (diagnostic) technologies (electroceuticals), including electrode-based interfaces for remotely monitoring bioelectrical function, implantable, shape adaptable electrode-based interfaces for monitoring of bioelectricity function of organs and miniaturized electrode-based interfaces for integrated bioelectronic therapies
• establish therapeutic feasibility
• developing, testing and implementing novel therapies modulating bio-electrical function

Strategy

Our strategy to achieve these goals is to create a network of researchers with expertise related to bioelectric medicine. The core of this network is established by prof. dr. Natasja de Groot and ass. prof. dr. Yannick Taverne.

They

• prepare scientific, financial and administrative reports with associated principle investigators
• inform/contact consortium members on on-going projects when needed
• arrange research meetings with all PI’s and PhDs involved once a year and with subgroups as required
• monitor project outcomes with relation to timelines, milestones and deliverables
• communicate project outcomes with society via the Medical Delta website where once a year, a one-day meeting for all researcher will be organized

The core is connected to multiple pillars and each pillar represents a unique expertise within the field of bioelectric medicine. Every pillar has a principal coordinator who is responsible for the activities within that specific domain. These principal coordinators work at different institutions in- and outside the Netherlands, including in particular the Erasmus MC, Delft University of Technology and the Leiden University Medical Center.

Please have a look at our website en let's engage!