Achieving Direct Functional Imaging of Brain Electrophysiology: Nanofabricated Cell-sized Electronic Sensors for Magnetic Resonance Imaging

项目摘要 目前，开发记录神经活动的必要技术的努力正在激增。 从整个大脑的体积中平行地。全脑直接读出神经信号将对 了解大脑功能和功能障碍背后难以捉摸的跨区域交流网格。这个 这一新的创新者奖的总体目标是开发和应用一种新形式的脑成像我们- ING电磁电路，可以部署在整个大脑中，并提供平行的体积电- 神经活动的生理读数。该项目依赖于主要调查人员最近取得的进展- Tor，演示了无绳微电子神经接口的使用，这种接口可以转导神经生理学 事件无线到可检测的磁场扰动，并由功能磁共振器监控- ANS成像(FMRI)。通过结合功能磁共振成像独特的三维能力来获得功能反应- 来自整个大脑体积的Dout，带有电磁探测器--能够直接记录电-- 现场生理神经活动并将其响应传输到MRI硬件-该项目旨在 改变我们获取大脑信号的方式。我们将使用新的纳米制造方法开创细胞大小的先河 无线探头，同时在啮齿动物中使用现有最先进的磁共振兼容微电极阵列 严格验证该技术，并将电生理读数与固有的fMRI血液分离 流动信号。近年来发生的工程进步推动了这两种技术的能力 电子和光学植入式脑部记录探头，实现纳米级空间分辨率，高 信噪比和时间响应，以及日益有利的组织-设备交互。可植入的 电极阵列设备为我们提供了数十或数百个电信号的多路记录 在细胞水平上具有高空间精度的神经元。这些装置已经成功地植入了 人类对癫痫的治疗和监测，提高四肢瘫痪患者的生活质量。 蒂恩斯。将在该奖项的保护伞下开发的神经电子fmri探测器将大大 增强这些功能。首先，通过提出一种不同的方法，使微创设备 由核磁共振扫描仪本身提供动力，不需要庞大的板载电源，其次，通过与 成像扫描仪将神经电活动传输到大脑外部的检测硬件，而不需要 系留连接的要求。传感器将被用来直接检测大脑中的神经电活动 三个维度，并将有助于为追踪正常和反常的跨区域起源铺平道路。 正常的大脑生理。

Project Summary There is currently a surging effort to develop the necessary technologies for recording neural activity from the entire volume of the brain in parallel. A whole-brain direct readout of neural signals will be critical to understanding the elusive cross-regional communication grid underlying brain function and dysfunction. The overall goal of this new innovator award is the development and application of a new form of brain imaging us- ing electromagnetic circuits that can be deployed throughout the brain and provide parallel volumetric electro- physiological readouts of neural activity. The project relies on recent advances made by the principal investiga- tor, demonstrating the use of tetherless microelectronic neural interfaces that transduce neurophysiological events wirelessly to detectable magnetic field perturbations, and are monitored by functional magnetic reson- ance imaging (fMRI). By combining the unique three-dimensional capabilities of fMRI to obtain functional rea- douts from the entire volume of the brain, with electromagnetic probes—that are able to directly record electro- physiological neural activity in-situ and transmit its response to the MRI hardware—this project is aiming to transform the way we acquire brain signals. We will use novel nanofabrication methods to pioneer cell-sized wireless probes, while employing existing state-of-the-art MRI-compatible microelectrode arrays in rodents for rigorous validation of the technology and to decouple the electrophysiogical readouts from intrinsic fMRI blood flow signals. The engineering advances that occurred in recent years have propelled the capabilities of both electrical and optical implantable probes for brain recording, achieving nanometer scale spatial resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio and temporal response, and increasingly favorable tissue-device interactions. Implantable electrode array devices provide us with multiplexed recordings of electrical signals from tens or hundreds of neurons with high spatial precision at the cellular level. These devices have been successfully implanted in human patients for the treatment and monitoring of epilepsy and to improve quality of life for tetraplegic pa- tients. The neuroelectronic fMRI probes that will be developed under the umbrella of this award will greatly augment these capabilities. Firstly, by presenting a different approach whereby minimally invasive devices are powered by the MRI scanner itself and do not require bulky on-board power, and secondly, by interacting with the imaging scanner to transmit electrical neural activity to the detection hardware outside of the brain with no requirement for a tethered connection. The sensors will be used to directly detect electrical neural activity in three dimensions, and will help pave the way towards tracing the cross-regional origins of both normal and ab- normal brain physiology.