A novel wireless system, using the same power as a cell phone, has safely transmitted energy to medical chips deep inside the body.

Stanford electrical engineer Ada Poon has paved the way for “electroceutical” devices to help power tiny chips the size of a rice grain, helping to treat diseases in patients and reduce pain and discomfort.

Devices such as nerve stimulators and pacemakers are among those that are able to be wirelessly powered with the use of an electrostimulator.

This new method of powering medical devices could give physicians an alternative to using drugs to treat diseases and their symptoms.

Poon was able to successfully blend both safety and efficacy of near-field and far-field waves based on the principle that waves travel differently when in contact with various materials, including water, air and other biological matter. By keeping this principle in mind, Poon created a power source that develops a particular sort of near-field wave that, when moved from the air to the skin, changes in such a way that it propagates.

Poon dubbed this new technology “mid-field” wireless transfer.

While it’s possible to build minuscule batteries into micro implants and then recharge these batteries with the new “mid-field” system, this isn’t possible with current technologies.

“We need to make these devices as small as possible to more easily implant them deep in the body and create new ways to treat illness and alleviate pain,” said Poon in a statement.

The new technology is reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).