Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

Nimble Science Ltd. needs SAIT's assistance to add a wireless tracking system as a value-added feature to its ingestible small intestine microbiome aspiration (SIMBA) capsule prototype. SAIT will address this company challenge by integrating radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to the capsule that will activate along with the sampling pad and transmit a signal to wirelessly track the progress of the sampling procedure through the digestive tract. The small intestine is where host, drug, food and microbiome interact. The capsule is a two-stage device that begins fluid sampling on dissolution of an outer capsule; then after a fixed interval a second stage occurs where sampling ceases and the specimen is mechanically sealed for later recovery. Knowing the instant of actuation of the sampling device will improve the extracted data and virtually eliminate the six low-dose X-rays presently needed in their clinical trials. The technical challenge is to integrate a passive RFID device with Nimble's proprietary sampling technology to signal the initiation and cessation of sampling from the capsule. In addition, there is no commercially available RFID device with the features required to track the above sampling process. The proposed project will use emerging platforms such as bioinformatics and communication technologies.