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: 2414753
• 负责人: Siyuan Rao
• 金额: $ 54.97万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Binghamton
• 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: 2023-11-15 至 2028-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2414753&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）是美国的瘫痪之一。没有SELEC的领域，该项目旨在开发一种新的软魔，以使用光，药物和病毒基因研究这种神经技术知识。对于对STEM具有广泛兴趣的学生，该计划的旨在通过工程学启动发射劳动工程计划，并在UMASS Amherst上进行神经科学的启动。 K-12学生的一系列以学生为中心的外展活动。在SCI中推进神经病理生理学的整体，以多功能的软神经探针技术使用聚合物工程方法水凝胶成分的特性允许探针传播到旋转的索区域，以进行光学神经调制和录音机的效果，并在体内设计了软神经探针的长期生存力。光度记录，电录音机l恢复（4）。