ASCENT: BioNet: A distributed network of bioelectronic devices for closed-loop control of physiological processes

生物电子学有望通过以个性化和高度受控的方式感测和影响局部组织和器官功能来显着改善人类健康和性能，这是传统材料和药物无法实现的。此外，身体的生物系统通信的方式需要在物理上分离的位置处进行感测和/或刺激，从而需要生物电子组件的“分布式”网络。为了实现这一愿景，必须克服关键障碍，包括通过组织与植入设备进行不可靠的无线通信，身体对工程设备的排斥以及整合。该项目将实现一个分布式生物电子网络，或“BioNet”，微型，独立的设备，以克服这些挑战，并将展示其修复神经损伤的实用性。BioNet将开发新的导电生物材料，以及用于无线供电和传输数据的小型化工具。该项目将通过改善生活质量和福祉来满足社会需求，并将减少疼痛，加快外周神经损伤的功能恢复，减少因损伤而导致的生产力损失。除了组织再生和功能恢复之外，BioNet还可以为其他医学领域做出更广泛的贡献，例如神经系统疾病的长期治疗和治疗。该提案将开发一个生物混合生物电子分布式网络桥接规模（材料，设备，电路和系统）和学科。带有毫米级磁电微粒（MagMotes）的BioNet将无缝集成到再生组织中，以提供功能性生物标志物和治疗刺激，从而影响生理状态。因此，该项目通过将不同学科汇集在一个融合研究框架中，为生物电子系统创造了新的知识和技术。协同设计策略使材料迭代/发现合理，平衡物理和实际限制与硬件/软件限制，并调和设计约束与应用程序/最终用户需求。 该项目将推进组织集成导电聚合物同种异体复合材料的材料和方法。它将提供一种使用磁电和定制CMOS电路实现无线供电和低功耗数据传输的新方法。 这些超低功耗CMOS电路和系统将增强鲁棒性和稳定性，减少校准工作，并提高制造产量。共同设计的BioNet将产生一个能够进行生物混合刺激和神经再生进展的真实的实时诊断的外周神经损伤生物电子系统，这是形成闭环系统所需的基础。对科学和工程界的更广泛影响是建立了一个平台，可用作研究疾病和功能障碍的生物机制的工具。通过开发分布式传感器和执行器的硬件平台，该项目将为生理控制创造一个新的范例，这将为分布式控制理论的开发和测试提供新的机会。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Bioelectronics promises to dramatically improve human health and performance by sensing and affecting local tissue and organ function in a personalized and highly controlled manner which is not possible with traditional materials and medications. Furthermore, the way that biological systems of the body communicate requires sensing and/or stimulation at physically separated locations, necessitating a “distributed” network of bioelectronic components. To achieve this vision key barriers must be overcome, including unreliable wireless communication with implanted devices through tissue, rejection of engineered devices by the body, and integration. This project will realize a distributed bioelectronic network, or “BioNet”, of miniature, free-standing devices to overcome these challenges, and will demonstrate its utility for repairing nerve injuries. BioNet will develop new electrically conducting biomaterials, and miniaturized tools for powering and transmitting data wirelessly. This project will contribute to societal needs through improved quality of life and well-being and will result in reduced pain, faster functional recovery from peripheral nerve injury, and reduced loss in productivity due to injury. Beyond tissue regeneration and functional restoration, BioNet could contribute more broadly to other areas of medicine, for example, the long-term treatment and therapy of neurological disorders. This proposal will develop a biohybrid bioelectronic distributed network bridging scales (materials, devices, circuits, and systems) and disciplines. The BioNet, with millimeter-scale magneto-electric motes (MagMotes), will seamlessly integrate into regenerating tissues to provide functional biomarkers and therapeutic stimuli in order to affect physiological states. This project thus creates new knowledge and technology towards the bioelectronic system by bringing together diverse disciplines in a convergence research framework. A co-design strategy enables rational for material iteration/discovery, balances physical and practical limitations with hardware/software limitations and reconciles design constraints with application/end user needs. The project will advance materials and methods for tissue-integrated conducting polymer allograft composites. It will deliver a novel approach towards wireless power and low-power data transfer using magnetoelectrics and custom CMOS circuits. These ultra-low-power CMOS circuits and systems will enhance robustness and stability, reduce calibration efforts, and improve fabrication yield. The co-designed BioNet will result in a peripheral nerve injury bioelectronic system capable of biohybrid stimulation and real time diagnostics of nerve regeneration progress, needed in order to form the basis of a closed loop system. The broader impacts for the scientific and engineering community are the establishment of a platform that can be used as a tool to study biological mechanisms underlying disease and dysfunction. By developing the hardware platform for distributed sensors and actuators the project will create a new paradigm for physiological control which will open new opportunities to develop and test concepts for distributed control theory.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.