It could be the future of medicine. The University of Rochester Medical Center has received a U-S patent to develop it. The device, an electronic bio-chip, could more quickly, and more accurately, monitor a person’s health from the inside. While the device is still years away from being implanted in people, the man who came up with the concept is excited about the possibilities.

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The first prototypes are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, but the idea could be big enough to revolutionize medicine.

"Ultimately it will be a smaller device. It will probably change the way people live,” said Dr. Spencer Rosero.

Rosero is a cardiologist at the University of Rochester Medical Center. For years, the limits of the devices doctors use to guide treatment frustrated him.

"You’re trying everything you've got in the book, over and over, and they're not getting any better," he said.

Eight years ago, he came up with a concept for a new diagnostic tool; one that could let a patient and their doctor know what was going on before they showed symptoms.

"Patients could change their medications. Maybe you could do a different treatment plan," Dr. Rosero said.

While the machinery is advanced, the key is bio-technology. It’s an embedded sensor that can harness the power of living cells.

"Up front is a group of cells that have a certain job. Their job is to pick up abnormalities early,” said Dr. Rosero.

For example, there are certain chemical signals in the body that occur before heart failure or chronic diseases set in. Changes this bio sensor would pick up and relay to a computer or even a smart phone.

"Like any start-up, with new technology, you can only do as much as you’re funding,” Dr. Rosero explained.

Rosero has been able to keep cells alive in a micro chamber, but to take the idea to the next level, he needs an investment big enough to sustain the project.

"What we're talking about is having full time scientists, full-time engineers, where they can work on it, and know they can work on it for two or three years and give it there all,” he said.

If that happens, the device could be used to test life saving drugs in two years and be ready for human trials in as early as five years. It’s an idea he hopes is worth the financial risk.

"This adds that next layer for a lot of these diseases right now that we treat the same way," said Dr. Rosero.

In 2005, Rosero founded Physiologic Communications and the company currently holds the URMC license for the technology.

Physiologic Communications is in the process of being acquired by Raland Therapeutics, a Perinton-based firm that focuses on interventional medicine and therapeutic devices. Raland Therapeutics – which is part of Maryland-based Raland Technologies – and Physiologic Communications have recently signed a letter of intent for merger.