An improved endoscopic device which is introduced into the intestinal tract of a living organism and which operates autonomously therein, adapted to obtain and store or transmit one or more types of data such as visual image data, laser autofluorescensce data, or ultrasonic waveform data. In another aspect of the disclosure, a probe for autonomously operating within an intestinal tract of a living human is disclosed. In one embodiment, the probe includes: a data processor an antigen detector and a communications device. In one variant, the processor comprises at least one sleep mode configured to place at least portions of the probe in a reduced state of power consumption based at least one of (i) a detection of a prescribed antigen and/or (ii) an absence of a detection of a prescribed antigen.
