EAGER: Elastic Electronics for Sensing Gut Luminal and Serosal Biochemical Release

EAGER：用于感测肠腔和浆膜生化释放的弹性电子器件

• 批准号: 2334134
• 负责人: Jinxing Li
• 金额: $ 7万
• 依托单位: Michigan State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-15 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2334134&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Elastic; Electronics; Sensing; Gut

Microbiota-gut-brain communication plays an important role in the progression of psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety, depression, and neurodevelopmental disorders. Gut serotonin, which accounts for 95% of the body's serotonin, serves as an important link between gut microbiota and the brain. However, knowledge of gut serotonin's function and impact on the enteric nervous system is limited due to the lack of proper bioelectronic tools. The gastrointestinal (GI) tract is a series of soft organs with inherent motility, joined in a long and twisting tube from the mouth to the anus. As a result, biochemical sensing in the GI tract has historically been challenging because conventional bioelectronic probes are rigid and fragile. This award aims to develop a new bioelectronic tool based on tissue-like soft materials that make both the mucosal and serosal sides of the intestinal epithelium accessible to neurochemical sensing, thus allowing us to study the biochemical effect on various physiological factors. The project is expected to create a powerful research tool that will provide novel insights into the dynamics of gut serotonin and lay the foundation for the development of transformative diagnosis and treatment for patients with psychiatric disorders through intervention in the GI tract. The research thrusts will be tightly coupled with comprehensive educational and outreach components, including Biodesign course and RET projects about soft electronics, to prepare future scientists and engineers from diverse backgrounds in the highly interdisciplinary research fields of bioelectronics.This project seeks to fill the critical technology gap of accessing the gut electrically by developing a soft and elastic graphene-based bioelectric sensor array that provides robust and intimate intestinal epithelium tissue interfacing with both the mucosa and serosa, thus enabling simultaneous and multiplexed biochemical sensing during continuous gut motion. The project includes three roles: (1) Systematic examination of the electrochemical performance of nitrogen-doped graphene electrode materials for sensitive and selective sensing of multiple neurotransmitters. (2) Development of a new microfabrication process for graphene microelectrode production to create a fully soft, graphene-based microelectrode array for biochemical sensing. (3) Evaluation of the feasibility of the elastic electronic sensor arrays to be interfaced with both the mucosal and serosal sides of the gut for multiplexed and multi-channel biochemical sensing in the actively moving gut of a rodent model. The proposed research will lead to a new tool for collecting critical datasets on motility-associated temporospatial fluctuation of gut biochemicals in the actively moving intestine of rodent animals.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

微生物群-肠-脑通讯在精神疾病如焦虑、抑郁和神经发育障碍的进展中起着重要作用。肠道血清素占人体血清素的95%，是肠道微生物群和大脑之间的重要联系。然而，由于缺乏适当的生物电子工具，对肠道5-羟色胺的功能和对肠神经系统的影响的了解是有限的。胃肠道（GI）是一系列具有固有运动性的柔软器官，从口腔到肛门连接在一个长而扭曲的管道中。因此，胃肠道中的生化感测在历史上一直是具有挑战性的，因为传统的生物电子探针是刚性和脆弱的。该奖项旨在开发一种基于组织样软材料的新生物电子工具，使肠上皮的粘膜和浆膜侧都能进行神经化学传感，从而使我们能够研究对各种生理因素的生化作用。该项目预计将创建一个强大的研究工具，为肠道5-羟色胺的动态提供新的见解，并通过胃肠道干预为精神疾病患者的变革性诊断和治疗奠定基础。研究重点将与全面的教育和推广组成部分紧密结合，包括生物设计课程和关于软电子的RET项目，培养未来的科学家和工程师从不同背景的高度跨学科的研究领域的生物电子学。该项目旨在填补关键的技术差距，进入肠道电通过开发一个柔软和弹性的石墨烯-基于生物电传感器阵列，其提供与粘膜和浆膜两者接口的稳健且紧密的肠上皮组织，从而实现在连续肠道运动期间的同时且多路复用的生化感测。该项目包括三个作用：（1）系统检测氮掺杂石墨烯电极材料的电化学性能，用于多种神经递质的灵敏和选择性传感。(2)开发用于石墨烯微电极生产的新微加工工艺，以创建用于生物化学传感的完全柔软的石墨烯基微电极阵列。(3)评价弹性电子传感器阵列与肠道的粘膜侧和浆膜侧两者接合以用于啮齿动物模型的主动移动肠道中的多重和多通道生化感测的可行性。这项研究将成为一种新的工具，用于收集啮齿动物活跃运动肠道中肠道生化物质运动相关时空波动的关键数据集。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。