FMSG: Bio-Manufacturing of Hybrid Tissue-Electronic and Photonic Devices

将生物组织与电子和光子设备相结合的能力有可能影响人类健康的许多方面，包括神经/神经肌肉疾病和损伤，如脊髓损伤和阿尔茨海默病，以及分泌性病理，如糖尿病和青光眼。到目前为止，生物电子设备已经在几个领域得到了应用，其中最著名的是心脏起搏器、使数以万计的深度聋人能够在听力世界中交流的人工耳蜗，以及深部脑刺激，后者在20世纪90年代的S时期被广泛用于治疗帕金森病和特发性震颤。尽管这些设备取得了成功，但生物电学和生物光子学设备的潜力几乎没有实现，部分原因是设备与活组织接口方面的挑战，以及设备插入可能造成的组织损伤。这项未来的制造种子赠款将开发新的制造方法，以创造生物兼容(即能够促进健康生物组织的生长和功能)和生物弹性(即能够承受生物系统潮湿、含盐、含蛋白质的化学环境)的电子和光子设备。此外，它还将讨论如何将活组织与电子和光子设备相连接，以便信息(例如，大脑电信号、肌肉刺激、神经元反应)可以在电子或光子设备和生命系统之间传输。该项目将建立在现有的半导体技术和生物医学先进技术的高级技术教育计划的基础上，以确定制造领域所需的核心能力，并在社区大学、学士、硕士和博士学位水平培训劳动力，通过我们与社区学院合作伙伴的互动和与行业的接触，扩大参与范围，以确保所制定的课程能够满足行业需求。最后，根据项目团队与工业咨询委员会共同确定的核心能力，将开发一个详细的课程，并在主要的社区大学以及纽约州立大学理工学院和奥尔巴尼药学与健康科学学院的学士和硕士课程中试行。学员和工业咨询委员会的反馈将被用来完善课程，以便在未来制造研究资助阶段得到更广泛的应用。这个未来制造项目由ECCS和CBET工程局的部门共同资助。利用纽约州立大学理工学院、AIM Photonics(位于纽约州立大学理工学院的联邦政府资助的美国制造研究所)、东北高级技术教育中心(NSF资助的培训项目)以及奥尔巴尼制药与健康学院、神经干细胞研究所等合作伙伴的优势，这项未来的制造种子基金将专注于设计和制造硅片电子和光子器件，并实现两个技术目标：1)设计和制造与生物材料接口的硅片电子和光子器件；2)开发用于电气和光子交互以及3D文化测量的接口。为了确定在制造规模上解决这些挑战的障碍，该项目将包括侧重于两个试验床的初步研究：1)实施可测量眼组织流出的压力传感设备，以应对青光眼治疗药物的开发；2)创建与三维细胞培养(如神经器官)接口的多电极阵列，用于电刺激和观察。在这些试验台实验中，一个重要的焦点将是可制造性设计，以实现从实验室设备到制造设备的过渡。此外，将与广泛的学术和工业合作伙伴举办一系列研讨会，以确定在随后的未来制造研究拨款中需要解决的其他研究和制造问题。该未来制造项目由工程局的ECCS和CBET部门联合资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The ability to integrate living tissues with electronic and photonic devices has potential to impact many aspects of human health, including neurological/neuromuscular disease and injury, such as spinal cord injury and Alzheimer's disease and secretory pathologies, such as diabetes and glaucoma. To date, bioelectronic devices have been employed in several arenas, most notably cardiac pacemakers, cochlear implants, which have enabled tens of thousands of profoundly deaf people to communicate in a hearing world, and deep brain stimulation, which became widely used in the 1990’s to treat Parkinson disease and essential tremor. Despite the success of these devices, the potential for bioelectrical and biophotonic devices has scarcely been realized, limited in part by challenges in interfacing devices with living tissues and the potential tissue damage due to device insertion. This future manufacturing seed grant will develop new manufacturing methods to create electronic and photonic devices that are biocompatible (i.e., able to facilitate growth and function of healthy biological tissues) and are bio-resilient (i.e., able to withstand the wet, salty, proteinaceous chemical environment of biological systems). In addition, it will address how to interface the living tissue with electronic and photonic devices so that information (e.g., brain electrical signals, muscle stimulation, neuronal responses) can be transferred between the electronic or photonic device and the living system. This project will build on existing advanced technical education programs in semiconductor technologies and biomedical advanced technologies to identify the core competencies required for the field of manufacturing and train a workforce at the community college, bachelors, masters, and doctoral degree level, broadening participation through our interactions with community college partners and engaging with industry to ensure that the curriculum developed remains responsive to industry needs. Finally, a detailed curriculum based upon core competencies identified by the project team in conjunction with the Industrial Advisory Board will be developed and piloted at key community colleges and in bachelors and masters level programs at SUNY Polytechnic Institute and Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Feedback from trainees and the Industrial Advisory Board will be used to refine the curriculum for wider deployment in the Future Manufacturing Research Grant phase. This Future Manufacturing project is jointly funded by the Divisions of ECCS and CBET in the Directorate of Engineering. Leveraging the strengths of SUNY Polytechnic Institute, AIM Photonics (a federally-funded American Institute for Manufacturing entity located at SUNY Polytechnic Institute), the Northeast Advanced Technological Education Center (an NSF-funded training program) and partners including Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and the Neural Stem Cell Institute, this future manufacturing seed grant will focus on design and manufacturing of silicon-wafer electronic and photonic devices with two technical objectives: 1) Design and manufacture of silicon-wafer electronic and photonic devices to interface with biological materials and 2) Development of interfaces for electrical and photonic interaction and measurement of 3D cultures. To identify the barriers to addressing these challenges at the manufacturing scale, the project will include preliminary research focused on two testbeds: 1) Implementation of a pressure sensing device that can measure outflow from ocular tissues to address development of glaucoma therapeutics; 2) Creation of multielectrode arrays interfaced with three-dimensional cell cultures (e.g., neuronal organoids) for electrical stimulation and observation. A significant focus in these testbed experiments will be on design for manufacturability, to enable the transition from laboratory devices to manufactured devices. In addition, a series of workshops with a wide range of academic and industrial partners will be conducted to identify additional research and manufacturing issues to be addressed in a subsequent Future Manufacturing Research Grant.This Future Manufacturing project is jointly funded by the Divisions of ECCS and CBET in the Directorate of Engineering.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.