CROSSBRAIN: Distributed and federated cross-modality actuation through advanced nanomaterials and neuromorphic learning

大量的脑部病理性疾病直接涉及到大脑的异常电活动。CROSSBRAIN的技术革命集中在新型纳米驱动模式、尖端纳米电子学和微型无线能量采集和通信的融合上。CROSSBRAIN将极端边缘计算与先进的纳米材料相结合，这些材料具有量身定制的物理特性、生物兼容涂层和材料修改，以防止胶质瘢痕形成，将使脑组织能够实现个性化、适应性和高度时空局部化的致动。它将通过车载智能利用感应局部电场电位、多单位神经元活动和基于跨模式纳米材料的神经元兴奋性调制(电、机械、热、离子浓度、光遗传学)。CROSSBRAIN平台包括一群无线的、可植入的、与MRI兼容的微型机器人，用于在细胞和微电路水平上的体内电生理学和跨模式神经调节，在自由活动的啮齿动物中。CROSSBRAIN提供多种刺激方式，涉及用于调节神经细胞兴奋性的机电-磁热-光原理。微型机器人将同时具有传感和驱动电极，采用纳米材料和病毒载体涂层。它们将被植入血管内，根据命令输送遗传物质，并在一个可以像物联网设备一样佩戴的微小中央单元的网络控制和无线供电下联合操作。CROSSBRAIN将通过组合多种神经调节机制来提供自动或手动的闭环感知、预测和执行，这些机制将以协同和动态的方式根据个别神经元放电模式或临床医生的需求来优化刺激形状。作为案例研究，我们将探索CROSSBRAIN在帕金森氏病和癫痫动物模型中的作用。

A vast number of pathological brain conditions directly involve aberrant electrical activity of the brain. CROSSBRAIN centres its technological revolution on the convergence of novel nanoactuation modalities, bleeding-edge nano-electronics, and miniaturized wireless energy harvesting and communication. Combining extreme edge computing with advanced nanomaterials featuring tailored physical properties, biocompatible coatings, and material modifications to prevent glial scarring, CROSSBRAIN will enable individualized, adaptive and highly spatiotemporally localized actuation of brain tissue. It will leverage sensing electric local field potentials, multiunit neuronal activity, and cross-modal nanomaterial-based modulation (electrical, mechanical, thermal, ionic concentration, optogenetics) of neuronal excitability with on-board intelligence. The CROSSBRAIN platform comprises a swarm of wireless, implantable, MRI-compatible microbots for in vivo electrophysiology and cross-modal neuromodulation at the cell- and microcircuit levels, in freely moving rodents. CROSSBRAIN delivers a multiplicity of stimulation modalities, involving electro mechano-magneto-thermo-optical principles for modulation of nerve cell excitability. The microbots will feature both sensing and actuation electrodes, engineered with nanomaterials and viral vectors coatings. They will be implanted endovascularly, deliver genetic material upon command, and operate in federation under the networked control and wireless power supply by a tiny central unit, which can be worn like an internet of things device. CROSSBRAIN will deliver autonomous or manual, closed-loop sensing, prediction, and actuation through combining multiple neuromodulation mechanisms, which will act in a synergistic and dynamic manner to optimally shape stimulation according to individual neuronal firing patterns or clinician’s needs. As case studies, we will explore CROSSBRAIN action in animal models of Parkinson’s Disease and Epilepsy.