Shaped like a transparent pill, the ingestible device contains a high-resolution infrared system that captures microscopic images of unusual tissue patterns in the stomach and intestine. A group of researchers…

Shaped like a transparent pill, the ingestible device contains a high-resolution infrared system that captures microscopic images of unusual tissue patterns in the stomach and intestine.

A group of researchers at Aga Khan University in Karachi has partnered with faculty at the Massachusetts General Hospital, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, to test a novel pill-shaped imaging device that can offer a low-cost and non-invasive method to understand the causes of malnutrition in children.

Shaped like a transparent pill, the ingestible device contains a high-resolution infrared system that captures microscopic images of unusual tissue patterns in the stomach and intestine.

AKU researchers under the SEEM grant, Study of Environmental Enteropathy and Malnutrition in Pakistan, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, are studying if malnourished children have a different set of bacteria in their intestines that limit their growth potential and reduce their immunity to disease.

This device will help build a visual profile of a malnourished child’s gut, a profile that may reveal the microbiological processes that are triggering harmful development patterns.