Speaker 0: welcome back to silicon scoop, everybody. we have a lot to talk about today. and with me as always is my cohost, john erwin. how are you doing today, john? Speaker 1: good. how are you, craig? Speaker 0: i'm doing great. it's early, and we got a lot to talk about. so we might as well jump right into it. so pie pilltrak i couldn't say pietrak. pilltrak is revolutionizing gastronical diagnostics. what if you could swallow a pill that wasn't a pill, was a device that actually sent information to your app to tell you exactly what was going on in your gut. that's what pilltrak says they're doing, and it sounds like it's revolutionary. what's happening here, john? Speaker 1: yeah. and so, like, when you first read, posted the article, i was like, isn't there already a pill that does this? and then i did some research of it. no. it's a pill that just takes pictures as it goes through your gut. so, yeah, this is cool. they developed this miniature capsule, which is only seven millimeters by 25 millimeter 70 seven millimeters wide by 25 millimeters long. and in this small package, they've got, it's a whole wireless electrochemical workstation built from low power and affordable electronics. so, it houses reconfigurable sensors, and they're capable of performing some, some different things like profiling of the gi tract, measuring real time levels of ph, temperature, glucose, various metabolites, ions, and neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, which is cool, which i like. so, they apparently, they i don't know how they created the modular design bunch of sensors that can be swapped out depending on which biomarkers are most relevant. but this is really cool. i'm not surprised that this has come out now, but i would love to try it. what are your thoughts on this, craig? Speaker 0: yeah. this is amazing. Speaker 1: oh, there's the yeah. Speaker 0: yeah. so i kinda at the beginning of what you're talking, i went and searched. i got a picture that we kinda post and compare it to. Speaker 1: yeah. Speaker 0: it's really cool that we're taking that step beyond. there was a pill that could track and maybe take some stuff and then you know? but it's nothing like what this is doing. and i don't know how many people i talked to where they're taking that swab, and sending it away to figure out what's going on inside their gut to take different things, to do probiotics, to do all this stuff. what if you could actually know what's going on? Speaker 1: yeah. i was actually thinking about how to measure dopamine levels because, you know, we have adhd. right? and being able to monitor dopamine levels would be great, and i think this pill could do that maybe. but how long does it last in your system? that's the question. Speaker 0: yeah. so it's seven millimeters in diameter, 25 millimeters in length. you can see in the picture, for those of you who are watching, that's a quarter, and it's just about the length just slightly longer than the diameter of a quarter. Speaker 1: it looks like the size of an omega three pill is what it Speaker 0: looks like. exactly. Speaker 1: which i take four of those every morning, so that's easy for me to swallow. Speaker 0: so the low cost sensors make it affordable. the wireless communication, to send data to external devices. and i'm not sure about the safety and efficacy of, sending wireless stuff out from inside you to outside you. but besides that, the concept is cool. Speaker 1: and what about battery too? look. it looks like a pill battery. right? it's looks like an old school pill battery. Speaker 0: the wireless capsule endoscopy technology represents a major step forward. unlike traditional methods, the pill doesn't require camera or bulky equipment. the biomarker detection happens automatically as the pill moves through the digestive system. and they focused on making the device both powerful and practical. they wanted something doctors could use regularly without a high cost or complex procedure. so i didn't see the cost, but i'll keep looking to see if i can find the cost in here. so it has basic parameters like ph levels from one to 14, the veracity to, very basic, temperature ranging from body heat to fever levels, ionic strength showing salt and mineral content. so it seems pretty interesting, advanced biomarkers, the metabolites like, short chain fatty acids that grow, gut bacteria health. you mentioned the neurotransmitters including serotonin, the happy chemical, and dopamine. so it's tracking the, these now. Speaker 1: yeah. and this is cool. this would be cool if it can replace, endoscopy, colonoscopy, and stool sampling. those are the three that if if it could replace that, that would be awesome because well, endoscopy and colonoscopies are very invasive, so that would be great. Speaker 0: yeah. both of those things, cutting those down would be you know, if you wanted to go to they're they cut out a lot of those tests now, or they made them later. i can't remember. but, it'd be nice just to be able to go to doctor, take a pill. you know, everybody gets the information. you know? you poop it out and go life goes on. Speaker 1: yeah. and so, like, when i when i thought that this had already been released so the difference between this pill and the other, capsule that you can swallow is the cap the old capsule just provides video or snapshots, whereas this provides, insights by tracking chemical changes as they happen in real life. so it makes it really valuable for monitoring kind of chronic gi inflammation, metabolic disorders such as diabetes, and it helps with research into the gut brain communication. so i think this is really cool. i would swallow one. how about you? Speaker 0: absolutely. the device keeps working for many hours. it sends wireless signals throughout its journey from stomach to intestine. this is sustained wireless transmission that gives doctor a detailed map of your digestive health. scientists can program different sensors, like you mentioned, for various conditions. some, the same basic device can look for diabetes markers or inflammation signals or mental health chemicals. and they've, proven testing in animals. they've been testing this in rabbits. Speaker 1: nice. i'm curious because you brought this up about the wireless signals being broadcast from inside. if that affects gut health or anything like that, i'd be interested to know. Speaker 0: well, i think we're into a little bit of a newer area here, so it'd be interesting to see. there's still some size concerns. the device might need to be even smaller for some patients like children or people with swelling difficulties because that omega three pill or what or kylie or oil pill or whatever you wanna that size of pill is not the easiest thing to swallow. the battery life works for current testing. however, longer monitoring periods might require better power management systems. yeah. we need to do human trial validation because animal testing shows promise, but human trials are still needed and to manufacture this stuff at scale. yeah. so, you know, they're go ahead. clinical, condition monitoring includes metabolic syndrome management. doctors contract diabetes, obesity, heart disease, risk factors continuously. the device measure glucose levels and other metabolic markers throughout the digestive process. so you could take one of these every day, guess, if, they were cheap enough. inflammatory disorder detection, conditions like crohn disease, all psoriatic colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, cause of inflammation. they can detect these things, and cytokines and other inflammation. gut brain connection research, discovering strong links between digestive health and mental wellness, neuropsychotic conditions, insight suppression, anxiety, and other mental health condition might be linked to gut bacteria, and, chronic disease management. so it sounds very promising. i'm really looking forward to where this is going. Speaker 1: yeah. i'm excited for this. let's hope they can commercial i'd be willing to take partner trial too for this, but i know those are difficult to get into. but Speaker 0: there's a detailed article over there in torontostarts.com. go over there and, check it out if you wanna read more. we'd love to hear what you think. Speaker 1: yeah.