Advanced Design of Peripheral Nerve Interfaces

扩大我们对神经电极和周围神经系统之间电信号如何相互作用的了解对于创新神经假体技术的开发至关重要。这需要一种跨学科的方法，其中电神经刺激和神经记录的基本原理被应用于表现出高度可变和复杂的电特性的生物组织。** 在过去的几十年里，通过外周神经袖带电极的创新设计，已经取得了显着的功能进步，其中选择性激活和记录特定神经纤维的能力的改进已经在实验中得到证明。最近实施的微电极制造技术已经进一步改善了神经电极的功能性能，但代价是需要高度侵入性的外科手术，这反过来严重限制了神经假体的长期使用和安全性。性能和长期使用之间的这种权衡是探索与周围神经系统进行电交互的创新和有效手段的关键动力。该研究计划的主要目标是探索神经电极界面的物理特性，以指导新型神经假体系统的设计：（1）使用微创神经刺激方法选择性电激活周围神经（增强型经皮电神经刺激，eTENS），（2）神经袖带记录电极的设计，用于长期测量多种生理信号（选择性神经记录），和（3）使用急性和慢性植入研究的电极设计的体内验证。原型器件将根据我们的计算模型的结果进行设计和制造;而关键性能特征（例如，神经激活阈值和选择性指数）将被量化，以指导该技术在人类中的潜在转化。** 这项工作的成功完成将对神经工程和康复领域产生重大影响，并扩展到生理学和神经科学领域。因此，我们最先进的技术将有助于当前的文献，包括神经接口的功能特性和生理应用。我们将进一步把握将我们的知识产权和电极制造技术商业化的潜在机会。结合我们的跨学科方法（即，由于该研究计划将神经工程学、神经科学和生物科学（包括神经工程学、神经科学和生物科学）与研究生和博士后研究人员的HQP培训相结合，我们希望该研究计划能够成为吸引加拿大研究人员正在开发的神经工程技术（基础研究、商业化和临床翻译）进展的国际认可的重要催化剂。

Expanding our knowledge of how electrical signals interact between nerve electrodes and the peripheral nervous system is critical for the development of innovative neural prosthesis technology. This requires an interdisciplinary approach, where the fundamental principles of electrical nerve stimulation and neural recording are applied to biological tissue that exhibit highly variable and complex electrical properties. **Over the past several decades, remarkable functional advances have been achieved by innovative designs of peripheral nerve cuff electrodes, where improvements in the ability to selectively activate and record from specific nerve fibers have been demonstrated experimentally. The more recent implementation of micro-electrode fabrication technology has further improved the functional performance of nerve electrodes, but at the cost of requiring highly-invasive surgical procedures that, in turn, severely limit the long-term use and safety of the neural prosthesis. This trade-off between performance and long-term use serves as a critical impetus for exploring innovative and effective means of electrically interacting with the peripheral nervous system.**The primary objectives of this Research Program are to explore the physical properties of nerve-electrode interfaces that will guide the design of novel neural prosthetic systems: (1) selective electrical activation of peripheral nerves using a minimally-invasive nerve stimulation approach (enhanced transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, eTENS), (2) design of nerve cuff recording electrodes for long-term measurement of multiple physiological signals (selective neural recording), and (3) in vivo validation of electrode designs using both acute and chronic implant studies. Prototype devices will be designed and fabricated based on results from our computational models; while key performance characteristics (e.g., nerve activation threshold and selectivity index) will be quantified for guiding the potential translation of this technology in humans. **The successful completion of this work will have a significant impact on the fields of neural engineering and rehabilitation, and also extend to areas of physiology and neuroscience. As such, our state-of-the-art technology will contribute to the current literature that encompasses the functional characteristics and physiological applications of neural interfaces. We will further capitalize on the potential opportunities for commercializing our intellectual property and electrode fabrication techniques. Combined with our interdisciplinary approach (i.e., engineering, neuro- and biological sciences) to the HQP training of graduate and post-doctoral researchers, we expect this Research Program to serve as an important catalyst for attracting international recognition of the progress in neural engineering technology (fundamental research, commercialization, and clinical translation) that are being developed by Canadian researchers.