SCHOTT solutions no. 1/2016 > Biocompatible glass

If you want to travel with a pet within the EU, chipping of that animal has been mandatory since 2012. In most cases, the transponder (top right) is injected into the left side of the animal’s neck. Photo: SCHOTT/A. Sell
Identification by Microchip
The unique identification process for animals is an advancement welcomed by both livestock farmers and pet owners alike. Injected transponders made out of biocompatible glass from SCHOTT are known for being both tolerable and reliable.
Dr. Haike Frank
Anyone who has ever gone through the ordeal of losing a beloved pet that has run away only to see it returned safely after searching for hours will gladly tell you how happy they were that the process for chipping animals has done its job and brought their pet back home. Now, an increasing number of the approximately 250 million domestic animals in Europe are getting an identification number, either through tattooing or microchipping, with their owner information registered in a central animal database. Tasso e.V., Europe’s largest organization for registering domestic animals, has listed over 7.7 million pets and claims to have assisted in the return of about 60,000 missing pets in 2014. What was once accomplished through the common practice of tattooing the animal with a letter or number combination on its ear is slowly being replaced with an RFID microchip (radio-frequency identification that uses electromagnetic waves). A transponder no larger than a grain of rice is injected into the tissue of an animal on the left side of the neck, which has become the international standard location for placing the chip.

Photo: SCHOTT/A. Sell

A reader held about five centimeters above the neck of the animal reads the 15-digit number. This number can then be used to assign the animal to its registered owner. Photo: SCHOTT/A. Sell
Biocompatible glass protects electronics
SCHOTT has developed a special biocompatible glass for the microchipping process, which is produced at its manufacturing site in Landshut, Germany. Under the name ”8625,” the biocompatible glass has been successfully implemented in pets and livestock for more than 20 years. ”No one else on the market except SCHOTT provides and manufactures transponder casings made from tissue tolerable glass,” Cornelia Rusche, Sales Manager for transponder glass tubes at SCHOTT, proudly notes.

An RFID microchip is protected by a biocompatible glass tube. The smallest transponders are about the size of a grain of rice. Photo: Thinkstock
At SCHOTT, the product developers are already looking into new applications for this technology. One idea being investigated includes the measurement of certain health values with an implanted chip. ”For these applications, SCHOTT offers its miniaturized glass tubing made from biocompatible 8625 glass, in which the sensors can be integrated with a feedthrough made of metal or with an optical interface,” explains Rusche.
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