Neurophotonic-electronic brain-machine interface system

神经光子电子脑机接口系统

• 批准号: RTI-2020-00407
• 负责人: Shastri, Bhavin
• 金额: $ 10.93万
• 依托单位: Queen's University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Research Tools and Instruments
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2019-01-01 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=693795
• 关键词: Neurophotonic; electronic; brain; machine; interface

Brain mapping and unlocking the brain circuitry, can open incredible opportunities for the diagnosis and treatment of brain disorders from Parkinson and Alzheimer's disease to mental disorders. This has been the driving force of the scientific community's effort and has resulted in several ground-breaking innovations in brain study methods (eg. optogenetics, connectomics, magnetic resonance imaging, supercomputers for simulating the brain etc.). Each of these approaches faces either technological or fundamental challenges. As such, a complete mapping of the networks of billions of neurons in the brain remains a challenge.******We are developing an electronic-photonic brain-machine interface system for simultaneous optical stimulation of the brain cortex along with electrical recording of neurons. Our system is composed of microlasers and light-switchable graphene-based electrodes. The microlasers are engineered to be analogous to biological neurons and emit spikes' as light pulses with high temporal resolution and micron-scale spatial resolution. These light spikes switch on the graphene-based electrodes on the cortex to deliver the required electric voltage for neurons stimulation.******For modulating the microlasers, we are requesting an arbitrary waveform generator (AWG). An AWG can output user-defined arbitrary shape waveforms at high speeds that can mimic real-world signals (eg. spikes). The electrodes must be ultra-conformal to the complex topology of the brain's cortex to enable stable stimulation and recording of the neurons. Therefore, the electrodes' substrate must be ultra-thin, transparent to light, and biocompatible. Parylene is the only polymer that can satisfy these requirements. We are requesting a parylene deposition system (ie. a coater) to make the substrates for fabricating the light-switchable graphene electrodes. ******This equipment will support our collaborative and interdisciplinary research program, and the training of our 19 HQP across three departments (eng. physics, electrical eng., neuroscience) in addition to 10+ HQP of our collaborators (chemical eng., chemistry) as part of the NSERC CREATE-MAPS program who access our lab equipment (such as e-beam evaporator) on a daily basis. Striving for diversity including balanced gender representation, inclusivity and advancement of under-represented groups, our team consists of a female postdoc (Venezuela), 3 female graduate and 5 female undergrad students, and 2 graduate students from underrepresented minority.******Enabled by the bidirectional communication between the biological and artificial microlaser neurons, the proposed system is capable of copying' a complex unknown network of neurons in the brain to a known network of hardware components on a chip. The copied network can be used to unlock the communication patterns of the brain. If successful on a large-scale, such a brain mapping technique could be used to study neurological disorders that affect 1 billion people globally.

脑图和解锁脑电路，可以为从帕金森氏症和阿尔茨海默氏病到精神疾病的脑部疾病诊断和治疗脑部疾病开辟不可思议的机会。这一直是科学界努力的推动力，并导致了大脑研究方法中的几项开创性创新（例如，光遗传学，连接组学，磁共振成像，用于模拟大脑等的超级计算机）。这些方法中的每一种都面临着技术或根本挑战。因此，大脑中数十亿个神经元网络的完整映射仍然是一个挑战。我们的系统由微型塑料和可轻开关的基于石墨烯的电极组成。微叠层工程被设计为类似于生物神经元，并发出尖峰作为具有高时间分辨率和微分尺度空间分辨率的光脉冲。这些光尖峰开关在皮质上的基于石墨烯的电极上开关，以传递神经元刺激所需的电压。******用于调节微型载体，我们要求使用任意的波形生成器（AWG）。 AWG可以以高速输出用户定义的任意形状波形，以模仿现实世界的信号（例如尖峰）。电极必须对大脑皮层的复杂拓扑具有超符合性，以实现稳定的刺激和记录神经元。因此，电极的底物必须超薄，对光透明，并且具有生物相容性。 Parylene是唯一可以满足这些要求的聚合物。我们请求Parylene沉积系统（即一个座椅）制造用于制造可轻开关的石墨烯电极的底物。 *****该设备将支持我们的合作和跨学科研究计划，以及我们在三个部门（Eng。Physics，Electrical Eng。，Neuroscience）对我们的19个HQP进行培训，除了我们的合作者的10+ HQP（化学工程，化学，化学）作为NSERC创建图计划的一部分，他们访问了我们的Lab Create-Maps计划的一部分，他们可以访问我们的Lab Equipment（例如我们的e-Beam Evaporator e Daily Evaporator）。努力争取多样性，包括均衡的性别代表性，包容性和代表性不足的群体的进步，我们的团队由女性后DOC（委内瑞拉），3名女毕业生和5名女性本科生组成，以及2名来自代表性不足的少数群体的研究生，由少数群体启用。大脑中神经元网络与芯片上已知的硬件组件网络。复制的网络可用于解锁大脑的通信模式。如果在大规模上成功，这种大脑映射技术可以用于研究影响全球10亿人的神经系统疾病。