Neurophotonic-electronic brain-machine interface system

大脑绘图和解锁大脑电路，可以为诊断和治疗从帕金森和阿尔茨海默氏症到精神障碍的大脑疾病打开令人难以置信的机会。这一直是科学界努力的动力，并在脑研究方法方面产生了几项突破性的创新(例如。光遗传学、连接学、磁共振成像、用于模拟大脑的超级计算机等)。这些方法中的每一种都面临技术或根本挑战。因此，对大脑中数十亿个神经元的网络进行完整的映射仍然是一个挑战。*我们正在开发一种电子-光子脑机接口系统，用于同时对大脑皮层进行光刺激，同时对神经元进行电记录。我们的系统由微型激光器和基于石墨烯的光开关电极组成。微激光被设计成类似于生物神经元，并以高时间分辨率和微米级空间分辨率的光脉冲形式发射尖峰信号。这些光峰开启了皮层上基于石墨烯的电极，为神经元刺激提供所需的电压。*为了调制微激光，我们需要一个任意波形发生器(AWG)。AWG可以高速输出用户定义的任意形状的波形，可以模拟真实世界的信号(例如，钉子)。电极必须与大脑皮层的复杂拓扑结构超共形，才能稳定地刺激和记录神经元。因此，电极的衬底必须是超薄的、对光透明的、生物兼容的。对二甲苯是唯一能满足这些要求的聚合物。我们正在请求一个对二甲苯沉积系统(即，涂布机)以制造用于制造光开关石墨烯电极的衬底。*该设备将支持我们的协作和跨学科研究计划，以及对我们三个部门(英语)的19名HQP的培训。物理、电气工程、神经科学)，以及作为NSERC CREATE-MAP计划的一部分，我们的合作者(化学工程、化学)的10+HQP，他们每天访问我们的实验室设备(如电子束蒸发器)。为了争取多样性，包括平衡的性别代表性、包容性和代表性不足群体的进步，我们的团队由一名女性博士后(委内瑞拉)、3名女性研究生和5名女性本科生以及2名来自代表性不足少数民族的研究生组成。*通过生物和人造微激光神经元之间的双向通信，建议的系统能够将大脑中复杂的未知神经元网络复制到已知的芯片硬件组件网络中。复制的网络可以用来解锁大脑的交流模式。如果大规模成功，这种脑成像技术可以被用来研究影响全球10亿人的神经疾病。

Brain mapping and unlocking the brain circuitry, can open incredible opportunities for the diagnosis and treatment of brain disorders from Parkinson and Alzheimer's disease to mental disorders. This has been the driving force of the scientific community's effort and has resulted in several ground-breaking innovations in brain study methods (eg. optogenetics, connectomics, magnetic resonance imaging, supercomputers for simulating the brain etc.). Each of these approaches faces either technological or fundamental challenges. As such, a complete mapping of the networks of billions of neurons in the brain remains a challenge.******We are developing an electronic-photonic brain-machine interface system for simultaneous optical stimulation of the brain cortex along with electrical recording of neurons. Our system is composed of microlasers and light-switchable graphene-based electrodes. The microlasers are engineered to be analogous to biological neurons and emit spikes' as light pulses with high temporal resolution and micron-scale spatial resolution. These light spikes switch on the graphene-based electrodes on the cortex to deliver the required electric voltage for neurons stimulation.******For modulating the microlasers, we are requesting an arbitrary waveform generator (AWG). An AWG can output user-defined arbitrary shape waveforms at high speeds that can mimic real-world signals (eg. spikes). The electrodes must be ultra-conformal to the complex topology of the brain's cortex to enable stable stimulation and recording of the neurons. Therefore, the electrodes' substrate must be ultra-thin, transparent to light, and biocompatible. Parylene is the only polymer that can satisfy these requirements. We are requesting a parylene deposition system (ie. a coater) to make the substrates for fabricating the light-switchable graphene electrodes. ******This equipment will support our collaborative and interdisciplinary research program, and the training of our 19 HQP across three departments (eng. physics, electrical eng., neuroscience) in addition to 10+ HQP of our collaborators (chemical eng., chemistry) as part of the NSERC CREATE-MAPS program who access our lab equipment (such as e-beam evaporator) on a daily basis. Striving for diversity including balanced gender representation, inclusivity and advancement of under-represented groups, our team consists of a female postdoc (Venezuela), 3 female graduate and 5 female undergrad students, and 2 graduate students from underrepresented minority.******Enabled by the bidirectional communication between the biological and artificial microlaser neurons, the proposed system is capable of copying' a complex unknown network of neurons in the brain to a known network of hardware components on a chip. The copied network can be used to unlock the communication patterns of the brain. If successful on a large-scale, such a brain mapping technique could be used to study neurological disorders that affect 1 billion people globally.