NYU Abu Dhabi researchers develop wireless light pill for controlling gut neurons

Picture this: instead of scalpels and stitches, a tiny pill of light slips down your throat, switches on a hidden circuit of neurons in your gut, and reveals the secrets of your "second brain." Sounds like science fiction, right? At NYU Abu Dhabi, it's science fact.

Researchers there have unveiled a swallowable device — lovingly dubbed a "light pill" — that can control gut neurons wirelessly, no surgery required. Published in Advanced Materials Technologies, the study hints at a future where treating digestive and metabolic diseases could be as easy as taking your daily vitamin.

As lead researcher Khalil Ramadi put it: "If you look at how we do any study trying to map neural function in the gut, it is all extremely crude. We just do not have good tools for it." This little capsule may finally be the tool scientists have been waiting for.

How does it work?

The capsule goes by the unromantic acronym ICOPS (Ingestible Controlled Optogenetic Stimulation). Behind the clunky name is a remarkably clever design.

Here's the play-by-play:

• First, researchers tweak specific gut neurons so they become sensitive to light — the magic of optogenetics.
• Next, the patient swallows an LED-equipped capsule, which beams light directly into the gut to flip those neurons on or off.
• And the real trick? It doesn't even need a battery. Instead, it charges wirelessly, like your phone on a charging pad, powered through magnetic induction from an external transmitter.

Ramadi sums it up simply: "You can go in, transfect a certain subset of cells to be light sensitive, and then swallow this light pill whenever you want to activate those cells."

Even the build story feels futuristic. "What makes this capsule unique is that it was entirely fabricated in-house using 3D printing, without the need for cleanroom facilities," explained Mohamed Elsherif, the postdoc leading the work. Think garage tinkering, but with medical hardware.

Why does it matter?

The gut's often called our "second brain," and for good reason: trillions of neurons line the digestive tract, quietly orchestrating digestion, metabolism, and even mood. But until now, studying this hidden network has meant crude tools and invasive procedures.

ICOPS could change the game.

• Scientists can now map and control gut neural circuits with precision, in real time, and without tethering or surgery.
• Doctors may one day use the pill to treat motility issues, eating disorders, or metabolic diseases at their source.
• Future iterations could even carry miniaturized drug dispensers or deliver electrical jolts exactly where they're needed.

Elsherif doesn't mince words: "It can operate wirelessly in freely moving animals, enabling studies that were not possible with traditional tethered or invasive approaches." Translation: researchers can finally watch the gut in action without breaking it open.

The context

This "light pill" is more than a neat trick. It's emblematic of a larger shift: medicine moving away from knives and scalpels toward wireless, non-invasive tech that borrows as much from consumer gadgets as from operating theaters.

At NYU Abu Dhabi, that shift is backed by muscle. The university has spun up over 90 labs, generating more than 9,200 papers that have landed it in the Times Higher Education top 35 worldwide rankings. Within that environment, the Research Center for Translational Medical Devices (CENTMED) gave Ramadi's team the space to build, test, and refine ICOPS.

It's still early days. For now, the capsule has been tested in animals. But the vision is bold: a future where the mysteries of the gut — digestion, metabolism, even appetite — can be dialed up or down by swallowing a pill. In a world of invasive scopes and crude surgeries, that future feels less like tinkering in a lab, and more like a quiet revolution happening under the skin.