Center for Advanced Muscle BioElectronics (CAMBER)

神经科学的中心目标是发现神经回路是如何控制身体肌肉产生行为的。 然而，尽管最近研究大脑活动的工具取得了进展，但检查信号的方法 实际上，控制行为--肌肉纤维中的尖峰活动--自20世纪50年代以来基本上没有什么进步 限制了我们对大脑如何控制身体的理解。通过结合我们在电生理学方面的专业知识 (Dr.Sober)和Engineering(Dr.Bakir)，我们创造了新一代微尺度、高通道数 以前所未有的规模和分辨率记录肌肉活动的电极阵列(单单位脉冲序列 肌肉纤维)在自由活动的动物和包括小鼠、大鼠、鸣禽和 非人灵长类动物。这项技术很有影响力，因为它允许精确监控电机输出 与中枢神经回路的记录和操作相结合，与大脑倡议的目标一致 揭示中枢神经系统的活动模式是如何转化为运动行为的。要创建 我们的工具，我们已经建立了设计、制造和测试的流水线，创造了一些经过良好测试的 电极设计以前肢、声带和口面部肌肉为靶点。此外，我们调查了更广泛的 检查运动行为的研究人员社区，以找出当前方法的缺点并 确定阵列设计的优先顺序，以解决同样的问题。因此，我们建议制造和分发至少2500份 我们目前的设备将提供给全球100名研究人员(目标1)，并开发虚拟和面对面的培训模块 教用户如何有效和规模化地使用我们的新技术(目标2)。

A central goal of neuroscience is to discover how neural circuits control the body’s muscles to produce behavior. However, despite recent advances in tools for studying brain activity, methods for examining the signals that actually control behavior – spiking activity in muscle fibers – have advanced little since the 1950s, fundamentally limiting our understanding of how the brain controls the body. By combining our expertise in electrophysiology (Dr. Sober) and engineering (Dr. Bakir), we have created a new generation of microscale, high channel-count electrode arrays that record muscle activity at unprecedented scale and resolution (single-unit spike trains in muscle fibers) in freely behaving animals and from a range of species including mice, rats, songbirds, and nonhuman primates. This technology is impactful because it allows precise monitoring of motor output in conjunction with recording and manipulation of central neural circuits, consistent with the BRAIN Initiative’s goal to reveal how patterns of activity in the central nervous system are transformed into motor behavior. To create our tools, we have established a design, fabrication, and testing pipeline to create a number of well-tested electrode designs that target forelimb, vocal, and orofacial muscles. Moreover, we surveyed the broader community of researchers examining motor behavior to identify the shortcomings of current methods and to prioritize array designs to address the same. We therefore propose to fabricate and distribute at least 2,500 of our current devices to 100 researchers worldwide (Aim 1) and to develop virtual and in-person training modules to teach users how to use our new technology (Aim 2) efficiently and at scale.