Stretchable mesh nanoelectronics form 3D organoid structures with minimal impact on tissue growth and differentiation.

Effectively studying the heart and brain requires the use of tissue-wide electrophysiology with single-cell and millisecond spatiotemporal resolution. Electrophysiology involves the study of the electrical properties, largely the flow of ions, within biological cells and tissues. Typically, physical electrodes are placed within the tissue to measure the ion flow. Implantation can, however, destroy well-connected cellular networks within matured organs.

Researchers at Harvard University have developed a method for creating cyborg organoids () with organoids covered completely by soft, three-dimensional (3D) stretchable mesh nanoelectronics. The cyborg organoids are produced via organogenesis, with the stretchable mesh nanoelectronics migrating with and growing into the initial 2D cell layers via the cell–cell attraction forces to form 3D organoid structures with minimal impact on tissue growth and differentiation.

The dispersed nanoelectronics have direct contact with the cells, enabling observation both chronically and systematically of the evolution, propagation and synchronization of the bursting dynamics in human cardiac organoids through their entire organogenesis.