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140万人患有与科幻疾病有关的疾病，这会导致降低参与，并带来大量的个人和社会成本。脊髓系统的大多数当前神经技术都依赖于直接向组织注入电力。但是，这种类型的电方法不足以找出哪种类型的细胞有助于损伤恢复，因为电力会影响某些没有选择的某些区域的所有神经。为了克服这种局限性，该职业项目旨在开发一种新的软设备技术，以使用光，电气，药物和病毒基因载体研究脊髓系统。这种神经技术的发展需要来自多个学科的知识。因此，该项目为对STEM具有广泛兴趣的学生打开了各种教育机会。研究人员旨在通过UMASS Amherst的工程和神经科学部门启动跨学科的神经工程计划。该计划将通过开发针对残疾学生，互动在线枢纽的当前课程以及一系列以学生为中心的神经技术主题主题的外展活动来结合研究和教育活动。研究者的长期职业目标是建立工程平台方法，以调查神经系统并最终为神经系统功能障碍发展治疗。使用材料工程和神经科学的知识，研究人员假设开发新的多功能软神经探测技术可以提高对SCI神经病理生理学的整体理解。研究目标将通过四个特定任务来实现：（1）通过聚合物工程方法开发一种新的多功能软神经探针技术。可以通过调整其潜在的纳米尺度结构来微调水凝胶材料的光学和机械性能。优化水凝胶成分的材料特性使探针可以将光传输到脊髓目标区域，以进行光学中性调制和记录，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。软神经问题旨在允许光学刺激和光度记录，电气记录，药物输注和在微型设备内输送病毒，而无需限制自然运动。（3）研究使用一系列机器人行为测试来评估Sci SCI功能恢复的脊柱运动问题。 （4）将软神经问题应用于遗传和药物干预措施中，以促进SCI小鼠模型中的功能恢复。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估标准，通过评估来诚实地支持。