Center for Advanced Muscle BioElectronics (CAMBER)

神经科学的一个中心目标是发现神经回路如何控制身体的肌肉产生行为。 然而，尽管最近在研究大脑活动的工具方面取得了进展，但检查信号的方法， 实际上控制行为--肌肉纤维中的尖峰活动--自20世纪50年代以来几乎没有进展， 限制了我们对大脑如何控制身体的理解。通过结合我们在电生理学方面的专业知识 (Dr.清醒）和工程（巴克尔博士），我们已经创造了新一代的微型，高通道数 电极阵列以前所未有的规模和分辨率记录肌肉活动（ 肌肉纤维）在自由行为的动物和一系列物种，包括小鼠，大鼠，鸣禽， 非人类灵长类动物这项技术是有影响力的，因为它允许精确监测电机输出， 与记录和操纵中枢神经回路相结合，与BRAIN Initiative的目标一致 揭示中枢神经系统的活动模式是如何转化为运动行为的。创建 我们的工具，我们已经建立了一个设计，制造和测试管道，以创造一些经过良好测试的 电极设计，目标前肢，声乐，和口面部肌肉。此外，我们调查了更广泛的 研究人员社区检查运动行为，以确定当前方法的缺点， 优先考虑阵列设计以解决相同问题。因此，我们建议制作和分发至少2,500份 将我们现有的设备提供给全球100名研究人员（目标1），并开发虚拟和面对面的培训模块 教用户如何有效地大规模使用我们的新技术（目标2）。

A central goal of neuroscience is to discover how neural circuits control the body’s muscles to produce behavior. However, despite recent advances in tools for studying brain activity, methods for examining the signals that actually control behavior – spiking activity in muscle fibers – have advanced little since the 1950s, fundamentally limiting our understanding of how the brain controls the body. By combining our expertise in electrophysiology (Dr. Sober) and engineering (Dr. Bakir), we have created a new generation of microscale, high channel-count electrode arrays that record muscle activity at unprecedented scale and resolution (single-unit spike trains in muscle fibers) in freely behaving animals and from a range of species including mice, rats, songbirds, and nonhuman primates. This technology is impactful because it allows precise monitoring of motor output in conjunction with recording and manipulation of central neural circuits, consistent with the BRAIN Initiative’s goal to reveal how patterns of activity in the central nervous system are transformed into motor behavior. To create our tools, we have established a design, fabrication, and testing pipeline to create a number of well-tested electrode designs that target forelimb, vocal, and orofacial muscles. Moreover, we surveyed the broader community of researchers examining motor behavior to identify the shortcomings of current methods and to prioritize array designs to address the same. We therefore propose to fabricate and distribute at least 2,500 of our current devices to 100 researchers worldwide (Aim 1) and to develop virtual and in-person training modules to teach users how to use our new technology (Aim 2) efficiently and at scale.