Magnetic Modulation on Targeted Neural Circuits in Autism

项目摘要和摘要 我的整个职业目标是建立一个独立的研究项目，专注于利用尖端技术 研究神经回路的材料工程、基因操作和神经行为科学技术 潜在的自闭症谱系障碍(ASD)。我假设一个遥控的磁铁 神经调节工具将精确的电路级神经调节与行为结果联系起来，从而增强 神经回路审问与系统神经科学。为了实现这一目标，我接受了广泛的培训 研究领域包括材料工程、纳米技术、细胞神经生理学和神经科学。 有了这个奖项，在我未来的职业生涯中，我将开辟一条新的跨学科研究发展道路 遥控磁性工具，可对特定神经进行药理学和基因编辑干预 回路以及对自由活动的小鼠和清醒的非人类灵长类动物的行为评估 (NHPS)。在指导阶段，我将在Polina Anikeeva教授的监督下工作-一位 光电子和磁神经接口，在我的顾问委员会的指导下，该委员会包括 冯国平、张峰、苏尔、何志刚教授。在他们的大力支持下，我将获得 在基因编辑、社会行为测试设计和自闭症模型实验经验方面的其他培训 老鼠和绒猴，这将使我有必要的知识和技能来进一步研究 自闭症的神经基础，并开始我的独立职业生涯。指导阶段的工作将在 麻省理工学院电子研究实验室和麦戈文脑研究所提供了 活跃的多学科研究氛围，广阔的基础设施资源和宝贵的智力资源 这是实施拟议项目所必需的。在我的西蒙斯博士后培训期间 麻省理工学院，我建立了一种化学磁学技术来药理调节可识别的神经细胞群体 在自由活动的小鼠身上进行行为评估。因此，我的直接目标是将这项技术推进到 支持电路级神经调制的多点双向控制的多路复用工具包。在目标1中，我 将改进磁性纳米颗粒(MNPs)和脂质体纳米载体的化学合成，使其能够 在不同的磁场条件下利用配对的配体-受体进行多路复用控制，并实现 协调社会行为的大脑结构的多部位神经调节。下一步(目标2)，我将前进 这种磁性技术与基因编辑方法相结合，能够将非病毒基因传递到特定的细胞类型 与社会加工相关的神经回路。在独立阶段(目标3)，我将验证 调节靶向神经回路以改善转基因小鼠的社会行为缺陷，例如Shank3- /-。有了先进的磁性电子设备，我将进一步将这项技术应用于社交 在绒猴中进行评估，并介绍一种潜在的用于自闭症的磁场辅助热疗平台。

Project Summary and Abstract My overall career goal is to establish an independent research program focused on leveraging cutting-edge technologies of materials engineering, genetic manipulation and neurobehavioral science to study neural circuits underlying autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). I hypothesize that a remotely controlled magnetic neuromodulation tool will link precise circuit-level neural modulation to behavioral outcomes, and thus empower neural circuitry interrogation with systems neuroscience. To realize this goal, I have received training in extensive research fields including materials engineering, nanotechnology, cellular neurophysiology, and neuroscience. With this award, in my future career I will open up a new interdisciplinary research pathway of developing remotely controlled magnetic tools that enable pharmacological and gene-editing intervention on specific neural circuits along with the behavioral assessment on freely moving mice and awake, untethered non-human primates (NHPs). In the mentored phase, I will work under the supervision of Professor Polina Anikeeva - an expert in optoelectronic and magnetic neural interfaces, with the guidance of my advisory committee consisting of Professors Guoping Feng, Feng Zhang, Mriganka Sur, and Zhigang He. With their strong supports, I will receive additional training in gene editing, social behavioral test design and experimental experience with autism models of mice and marmosets, which will equip me with the knowledge and skills necessary to further the study of neural underpinnings of ASDs and launch my independent career. The work in mentored phase will be done at the Research Laboratory of Electronics and the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, which offer an active multidisciplinary research atmosphere, expansive infrastructural resources and a valuable intellectual community necessary for the implementation of the proposed project. During my Simons postdoctoral training at MIT, I established a chemomagnetic technique to pharmacologically modulate identifiable neural populations with behavioral assessment in freely moving mice. Hence, my immediate goal is to advance this technique into a multiplexed toolkit that enables multiple-site bidirectional control of circuit-level neural modulation. In Aim 1, I will improve the chemical synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) and liposomal nanocarriers to enable multiplexing control with paired ligand-receptors under disparate magnetic field conditions and implement the multiple-site neural modulation of brain structures that coordinate social behaviors. Next (Aim 2), I will advance this magnetic technique with gene editing approaches to enable non-viral gene delivery to cell-type specific neural circuits relevant to social processing. In the independent phase (Aim 3), I will validate the magnetic modulation on the targeted neural circuits to ameliorate social behavior deficits in transgenic mice, e.g. Shank3- /-. With the advanced magnetic electronics apparatuses, I will further adapt this technique to social interaction assessment in marmosets and introduce a potential magnetic field-assisted theranostic platform for ASDs.