University of Illinois PhD student Canan Dagdeviren was the lead public investigator of a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) magazine, which detailed how her research group had developed a new class of biocompatible devices to harvest and store piezoelectric energy directly from the motion of the heart, lung and diaphragm. These devices, which are soft and flexible with low bending stiffness are the first of its kind, nano-generators that convert mechanical energy from internal organ movements into significant energy to power medical devices. This breakthrough technology promises to replace the pacemaker as the regulating source of an irregular heartbeat and be used to store energy to keep vital organs functioning in the event of their failure.