Turkish scientist invents chickpea-sized capsule to diagnose body diseases

Zülal Atagün - ISTANBUL

A Turkish scientist has invented a capsule of the size of a chickpea, which typically helps in diagnosing diseases in the digestive system when swallowed, enabling an easier endoscopy procedure.

“This is a brand-new technology,” Rabia Tuğçe Yazıcıgil, working in a lab affiliated with the Boston University in the U.S., told daily Hürriyet on Aug. 3.

The capsule helps in detecting diseases like inflammation or bleeding inside the body after it is swallowed and transfers all data it collects to an app in the user’s mobile phone.

“Tests made to a patient do not always detect diseases, but this capsule gives all data needed even without the need of going to a hospital for a check,” Yazıcıgil said.

Yazıcıgil and her team in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) first made the capsule prototype in the size of 3 centimeters to 1 centimeter. Then she, with her team in Boston University, reduced the capsule to a chickpea size so that it would not stick to any place in the body while first getting into the stomach and then the digestive system.

“We also integrated a chip inside that processes signals with high resolution,” Yazıcıgil noted.

“The capsule activates itself every 10 minutes in the body. It processes signals in 16 seconds and transfers the data in 12 milliseconds to a mobile phone,” she added.

The capsule was admired by her colleagues in Turkey. “This capsule is a revolutionary invention. It is smaller and is with a high-resolution technology,” Vedat Göral, a doctor in Istanbul said.