CAREER: Multifunctional Soft Neural Probes for Elucidating Spinal Cord Injury Pathophysiology

职业：用于阐明脊髓损伤病理生理学的多功能软神经探针

• 批准号: 2239030
• 负责人: Siyuan Rao
• 金额: $ 54.97万
• 依托单位: University of Massachusetts Amherst
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-07-01 至 2024-02-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2239030&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Multifunctional; Soft; Neural; Probes

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is one of the leading causes of paralysis in the US. Over 1.4 million people live with SCI-related disabilities, which leads to lower participation and gives rise to substantial individual and societal costs. Most of the current neurotechnology for the spinal cord system relies on directly injecting electricity into the tissues. However, this type of electrical approach is inadequate to find out which type of cells contributes to injury recovery because electricity affects all the neurons in certain areas without selection. To overcome such limitations, this CAREER project seeks to develop a new soft device technology to study the spinal cord system using light, electricity, drug, and virus gene carriers. The development of this neurotechnology requires knowledge from multiple disciplines. Therefore, this project opens various educational opportunities for students with a broad interest in STEM. The investigator aims to launch an interdisciplinary neuroengineering program across the engineering and neuroscience departments at UMass Amherst. This program will combine research and educational activities through the development of a curriculum inclusively designed for students with disabilities, an interactive online hub, and a series of student-centered neurotechnology-themed outreach activities for K-12 students. The investigator’s long-term career goal is to establish engineering platform methodologies to investigate the nervous system and ultimately develop therapeutics for nervous system dysfunction. Using the knowledge of materials engineering and neuroscience, the investigator hypothesizes that the development of a new multifunctional soft neural probe technology can advance a holistic understanding of neural pathophysiology in SCI. The research goals will be accomplished through four specific tasks: (1) Developing a new multifunctional soft neural probe technology with polymer engineering approaches. The optical and mechanical properties of hydrogel materials can be fine-tuned by tweaking their underlying nano- and micro-scale structures. Optimizing the material properties of the hydrogel component allows the probe to transmit light to the spinal cord target areas for optical neural modulation and recording, and to adapt to the spinal cord tissue movement in vivo. (2) Testing the multifunctionality and long-term viability of the soft neural probes in vivo. The soft neural probes are designed to allow optical stimulation and photometric recording, electrical recording, drug infusion, and virus delivery within miniaturized devices without constraining natural movement.(3) Investigating spinal locomotor circuits with soft neural probes using a series of locomotor behavioral tests to assess SCI functional recovery. (4) Applying the soft neural probes for genetic and pharmacological interventions to promote functional recovery in SCI mouse models.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.

脊髓损伤 (SCI) 是美国瘫痪的主要原因之一，超过 140 万人患有与 SCI 相关的残疾，这导致参与率较低，并导致大量的个人和社会成本。脊髓系统依赖于直接将电流注入组织中，但是这种电方法不足以找出哪种类型的细胞有助于损伤恢复，因为电会影响某些区域的所有神经元，而没有选择。这个职业项目寻求开发一种新的软设备技术，利用光、电、药物和病毒基因载体来研究脊髓系统。这种神经技术的发展需要多学科的知识，因此，该项目为具有广泛兴趣的学生提供了各种教育机会。该研究人员旨在在麻省大学阿默斯特分校的工程和神经科学系推出跨学科神经工程项目，该项目将通过为残疾学生设计的包容性课程、互动在线中心和一系列活动来进行研究和教育活动。的为 K-12 学生开展以学生为中心的神经技术主题的外展活动。研究者的长期职业目标是建立工程平台方法来研究神经系统，并最终利用材料工程和神经科学的知识开发神经系统功能障碍的治疗方法。研究人员致力于开发一种新型多功能软神经探针技术，以促进对 SCI 神经病理生理学的整体理解。研究目标将通过四个具体任务来实现：（1）开发一种新型多功能聚合物软神经探针技术。工程水凝胶材料的光学和机械性能可以通过调整其底层纳米和微米级结构来微调，从而使探针能够将光传输到脊髓目标区域以进行光学神经。调制和记录，并适应体内脊髓组织运动（2）测试体内软神经探针的多功能性和长期活力软神经探针被设计成允许光学刺激和光度记录、电学。录音、毒品(3) 使用软神经探针研究脊髓运动回路，使用一系列运动行为测试来评估 SCI 功能恢复。 (4) 将软神经探针应用于遗传和药物干预。促进 SCI 小鼠模型的功能恢复。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。