Imaging retinal functional activity with fast neural electrical impedance tomography

在许多退行性视网膜疾病中，光感受器细胞的丧失导致不可逆的视力丧失;植入式视网膜假体通过电刺激诱导视觉效应来利用保持完整的视网膜神经元层。该提案的目的是提供一种用于以高时空分辨率、紧凑的硬件和低成本对视网膜的功能性神经活动进行成像的技术，这将大大加速视网膜电生理学的进展和视网膜假体植入前/后的优化。这种新型工具将建立在电阻抗断层扫描（EIT），一种非侵入性技术，允许从一组在边界电极处进行的阻抗测量三维重建电组织特性。最近开发的快速神经EIT（FN-EIT）允许神经元交通成像，这要归功于活动期间神经离子通道开放引起的组织阻抗的微小变化。在Imaginate中，我将积累我在FN-EIT大脑和神经方面的经验，并与视网膜生理学和视觉修复学方面的世界级专家合作，将这项技术确立为一种新的视网膜成像工具。我计划通过针对视网膜组织的特定特征优化现有FN-EIT技术并收集体外数据集以评估响应光学和电刺激的成像性能来实现IMAGINATE的目标，然后通过对小动物的体内可行性研究结束行动。资助这一行动将是职业发展的基本机会，将支持我在高度创新的跨学科领域的培训，同时培养专业独立性并导致有影响力的出版物。此外，IMAGINATE的目标与欧盟的地平线欧洲方案相一致，特别是致力于卫生研究的关键群组（群组1-卫生），以及致力于开发卫生技术的具体干预领域。

In a number of degenerative retinal diseases, loss of photoreceptor cells leads to irreversible vision loss; implantable retinal prostheses take advantage of the layers of retinal neurons left intact by inducing visual effects through electrical stimulation. The aim of this proposal is to deliver a technique for imaging the functional neural activity of the retina with high spatiotemporal resolution, compact hardware and low cost that would greatly accelerate progress of retinal electrophysiology and optimization of retinal prosthetics pre/post implantation. This novel tool will build on Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT), a non-invasive technique which allows 3D reconstruction of electrical tissue properties from a set of impedance measurements taken at boundary electrodes. The recently developed Fast Neural EIT(FN-EIT) allows imaging of neuronal traffic thanks to the small variation in tissue impedance caused by opening of neural ion channels during activity. Within IMAGINATE, I will build over my experience in FN-EIT for brain and nerve and work with world-class experts in retinal physiology and vision prosthetics to establish this technique as a novel retinalimaging tool. I plan to achieved IMAGINATE's objectives by optimizing existing FN-EIT technology for the specific features of retinal tissue and collecting ex-vivo datasets to assess imaging performance in response to optical and electrical stimulation, before concluding the action with an in-vivo feasibility study on small animals. Funding of this action will be a fundamental opportunity of career development that will support my training in a highly innovative, interdisciplinary field while fostering professional independence and leading to impactful publications. Furthermore, the goals of IMAGINATE align with EU's Horizon Europe programme, specifically the key cluster dedicated to health research (Cluster 1-Health), and the specific Area of Intervention dedicated to developing technologies for health.