Smart Brain Interfaces for Diagnostic and Therapeutic Applications : A Multidisciplinary Approach

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Emerging medical microsystem technologies have the potential to create smart brain interfaces (SBIs) to enhance our understanding of intracortical organization and neural activity underlying cognitive functions and pathologies, and bring neural cell-based diagnostics and therapy closer to reality. An implantable SBI allows recording signals from a large number of cells in the cerebral cortex and monitoring neurotransmitters behavior and displacement among cells. Despite significant progresses in building such biointerfaces, further synergism of innovative techniques are needed for real-time assessment of neurobiological data, reliable diagnostics of dysfunctions and efficient treatment procedures. We focus in this research program on the design, and implementation of biodevices intended to interact with the neural cells, including harvesting energy methods to power up these implants, and other wireless links used to bidirectionally exchange data with specific external base stations. It includes also the microelectrode arrays used to interface the neural tissues. In addition, we are planning to pay special attention to the development of Lab-on-Chip (LoC) devices for in-vitro recording and stimulation of cultured neural cells. This type of biointerface is becoming a necessity avoiding calling upon animal and human to validate achieved SBIs. Priority of proposed biodevices will be given to two main applications: 1) primary visual cortex sensing and stimulation intended to recover vision for the blind, and 2) epileptic seizures onset detection and treatment. These contributions will also enable several medical challenges in restoring neural dysfunctions in aging western population. If successful, such challenging initiative should undoubtedly advance the state of the art in biomedical and neuroscience fields. Counting on this remarkable capacity to innovate, our program is devoted to generate social wealth and contribute to strengthen Canadian hi-tech industry.