Fields and Waves

We conduct fundamental research on fields and waves motivated by practical challenges in biomedical technology. Current areas of interest include metasurfaces, propagation in complex media, electromagnetic chirality, spoof plasmonics, and parity-time symmetry with emphasis on their applications to wireless power transfer, communication, actuation, and sensing.

Selected Publications

Z. Dong, Z. Li, F. Yang, C. W. Qiu, J. S. Ho, "Sensitive readout of implantable microsensors using a wireless system locked to an exceptional point," Nat. Electron., 2, 335-342 (2019).

Z. Dong, F. Yang, J. S. Ho, "Enhanced electromagnetic energy harvesting with subwavelength chiral structures," Phys. Rev. Applied, 8, 044026 (2017)

Biomedical Wireless Technology

We study wireless systems used in clinical devices in order to gain physics-based insights that can be translated into solutions for currently unmet challenges. We validate these solutions in human-scale computational models and large animal experiments in order to demonstrate their clinical applicability.

Selected Publications

F. Yang, P. M. Lee, Z. Dong, X. Tian, J. S. Ho, "Enhancing wireless transmission from the body with wearable diffractive patterns," Phys. Rev. Applied, 12, 054020 (2019).

D. R. Agrawal, Y. Tanabe, D. Weng, S. Liao, Z. Zhen, Z. Zhu, C. Sun, Z. Dong, F. Yang, H. F. Tse, A. S. Y. Poon, and J. S. Ho, “Conformal phased surfaces for wireless powering of bioelectronic microdevices,” Nat. Biomed. Eng., 1, 0043 (2017)

Wearable Sensor Networks

We are developing networks of wearable sensors to continuously monitor health over the whole body. Our approach uses electromagnetically functional clothing to establish wireless connectivity between multiple distributed battery-free sensors, with the aim of creating full-body physiological maps of electrical, mechanical, thermal, and chemical activity.

Selected Publications

R. Lin*, H. Kim*, S. Achavananthadith, S. A. Kurt, S. C. C. Tan, H. Yao, B. C. K. Tee, J. L. W. Lee, J. S. Ho, "Wireless battery-free body sensor networks using near-field-enabled clothing," Nat. Commun., 11, 444 (2020).

X. Tian, P. M. Lee, Y. J. Tan, T. L. Y. Wu, H. Yao, M. Zhang, Z. Li, K. A. Ng, B. C. K. Tee, J. S. Ho, "Wireless body sensor networks based on metamaterial textiles," Nat. Electron., 2, 242-251 (2019)

Bioelectronic Photomedicine

We are designing implantable photonic devices for wireless light delivery deep into living systems. Applications of these devices include control of neural activity using optogenetics, and selective activation of light-sensitive cancer drugs for photodynamic therapy. These systems enable the spatiotemporal control of bioelectronics to be combined with the molecular selectivity of light for enhanced therapeutic precision.

Selected Publications

X. Tian, P. M. Lee, J. S. Ho, "Control of wireless power transfer to a bioelectronic device by harmonic feedback," AIP Adv., 8, 095308 (2018)

A. Bansal, F. Yang, X. Tian, Z. Yong, J. S. Ho, "In vivo wireless photonic photodynamic therapy," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 115 (7), 1469-1474 (2018)