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

大量的病理性脑疾病直接涉及大脑的异常电活动。CROSSBRAIN的技术革命集中在新型纳米驱动模式、尖端纳米电子学和小型化无线能量收集和通信的融合上。CROSSBRAIN将极端边缘计算与先进的纳米材料相结合，具有定制的物理特性、生物相容性涂层和材料修饰，以防止胶质瘢痕形成，将实现脑组织的个性化、自适应和高度时空定位驱动。它将利用感应局部电场电位、多单元神经元活动和基于纳米材料的跨模态调制（电、机械、热、离子浓度、光遗传学）的神经元兴奋性与机载智能。CROSSBRAIN平台包括一群无线、可植入、核磁共振兼容的微型机器人，用于在自由移动的啮齿动物体内进行细胞和微电路水平的电生理和跨模态神经调节。CROSSBRAIN提供了多种刺激方式，包括电、机械、磁、热光学原理来调节神经细胞的兴奋性。微型机器人将采用传感和驱动电极，采用纳米材料和病毒载体涂层。它们将被植入血管内，根据指令传递遗传物质，并在联网控制和无线供电的微型中央装置下联合运行，该装置可以像物联网设备一样佩戴。CROSSBRAIN将通过结合多种神经调节机制，提供自主或手动的闭环传感、预测和驱动，这些机制将以协同和动态的方式起作用，根据个体神经元放电模式或临床医生的需要，最佳地形成刺激。作为案例研究，我们将探索跨脑在帕金森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.