Implantable Optoelectronic Devices for Neurophysiology

近年来，光的产生和操纵技术发展迅速，使得光学系统小型化到以前被认为无法实现的尺寸成为可能。处于这些发展前沿的是塑料，它允许制造具有颜色、形状、大小和结构灵活性的光源和探测器，这进一步推动了微型光学系统的极限。我们刚刚开始了解这些技术进步对医学领域的革命性影响，因为这需要物理科学和医学科学的深度融合。在这个项目中，我们将通过使用微型塑料光源和探测器来探索它，以建立可植入的设备，有可能改变我们接近神经系统的理解和治疗的方式。通过测量神经细胞周围的血液颜色，可以非常详细地监测神经组织如何利用氧气。这反过来又告诉我们有关组织活动水平的信息。也有可能对神经细胞进行修饰，使其对光做出反应。通过用给定颜色的光照射它们，修改后的细胞被激活，而通过使用不同的颜色，活动被暂时停止。因此，利用光，我们有能力测量神经细胞的活动，并根据需要与这种活动相互作用。因此，微型和可植入的光操纵设备有可能成为检测神经系统如何工作并在其活动中实施纠正的无价工具。这项技术可能提供解决方案的例子包括帕金森氏症、S病、癫痫或神经系统受损部分的增强。为了让它在现实生活中有效应用，这种技术的开发远远超出了一个研究小组的能力。因此，该项目将致力于在物理学家/工程师和神经学家/医生之间建立稳定的合作。合作研究将从开发适合神经细胞分析和操作需要的塑料光源和探测器开始。然后，我们将通过检查这些设备是否会对神经组织结构或组织工作方式造成损害，来探索这些设备是否适合长期植入。最后，我们将演示一个简单的应用程序，其中光源和探测器将用于测量实际的神经或大脑信号。

Techniques for the generation and manipulation of light have developed rapidly in recent years, leading to the possibility of optical systems miniaturised to a size previously considered unattainable. At the forefront of these developments are plastics that allow the manufacturing of light sources and detectors with a flexibility in colour, shape, size and structure that pushes the limits of miniature optical systems even further. We are barely beginning to understand the revolutionary impact of these technological advances on the medical field, as this requires a deep integration between physical and medical sciences. In this project, we will be exploring it by using miniature plastic light sources and detectors to build implantable devices, with the potential to transform the way we approach the understanding and the treatment of the nervous system. By measuring the blood colour around nerve cells, it is possible to monitor in very fine detail how oxygen is used by the nervous tissue. This, in turn, tells us about the tissue activity level. It is also possible to modify the nerve cells so that they respond to light. By illuminating them with light of a given colour, the modified cells are activated, and by using a different colour, the activity is temporarily stopped. Using light, we have therefore the capability to measure the activity of nerve cells, and to interact with such activity as needed. For this reason, miniaturized and implantable light manipulation devices have the potential to become invaluable tools in detecting how the nervous system works, and to implement corrections in its activity. Examples where this technology may offer solutions can be Parkinson?s Disease, epilepsy, or the augmentation of damaged parts of the nervous system. For it to be effective in real-life applications, the development of such a technology goes well beyond the capabilities of a single research group. The project will therefore aim to establish a stable collaboration between physicists/engineers and neurosceintists/medical doctors The collaborative research will start by developing plastic light sources and detectors tailored to the needs of nerve cell analysis and manipulation. We will then explore the suitability of such devices for long-term implants, by checking if they may cause damage to the nerve tissue structure or to the way the tissue works. Finally, we will demonstrate a simple application, in which the light sources and the detectors will be used to measure an actual nerve or brain signal.