Pengju LI

Bioelectrical modulation plays a crucial role in both natural biological processes and therapeutic interventions. Traditional lead-based electrical stimulation, essential for devices like deep-brain stimulators and cardiac pacemakers, faces limitations due to lead-associated issues and spatial constraints. Although optogenetics offers precise spatiotemporal control, its clinical adoption is limited by ethical concerns.

Over the past six years, Pengju Li has focused on developing new materials and electronic devices using fundamental principles of physics, chemistry, and physiology, with the aim of addressing medical and socio-economic issues, particularly for heart disease and neurodegenerative diseases.

He developed a monolithic thin-film semiconductor device for the first minimally invasive, high-resolution, and random-access optoelectronic pacing of an adult pig’s heart, achieving multiscale biological modulation from single cardiac cells to the heart tissues of large mammals. He also invented an intercostal operational tool that delivers the semiconductor-based cardiac pacemaker and optical fiber elements through small intercostal spacings, enabling minimally invasive optoelectronic heart pacing.

The key component of the optical pacemaker device is a nano-engineered ultra-thin silicon film, which features excellent biocompatibility and can degrade within the body, eliminating the need for a second surgery for removal. If successfully applied in clinical settings, this innovation has the potential to benefit approximately 2 million heart surgery patients worldwide. Pengju has iteratively optimized the first-generation photoelectrochemical devices, achieving lower irradiance-induced heart pacing, stable performance for up to a year, and minimally invasive surgical implantation.

Now, Pengju is preparing for co-founding a startup aimed at redefining cardiac care by introducing a light-driven cardiac pacemaker.