IDBR Collaborative Research: Wireless Integrated Devices for Brain Monitoring and Stimulation

Board Of Trustees Of Illinois State University, Normal IL

Investigators

Abstract

This award supports a collaborative effort between PIs at Case Western Research University and Illinois State University to develop new instrumentation in support of neurobiology research. Monitoring neural activity in awake laboratory animals has proven to be a powerful tool for investigating how the brain ultimately controls behavior. Driving this approach are recent advances in microsensors for probing brain function very quickly and on microscopic scales as the behavior occurs. However, neuromonitoring at implanted microsensors remains particularly challenging, as the majority of available measurement systems are hampered by large size, high power requirements, and wired connections between animal and recording equipment. These technological limitations will be overcome by developing the next generation of ultra-small, low-power wireless devices for neurochemical and neuroelectrical monitoring and for neuromodulation using electrical stimulation in freely behaving animals. State-of-the-art engineering methods called very-large-scale-integration (VLSI) and complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technologies will be employed to manufacture the proposed devices. This fabrication process will result in multichannel, multifunctional, wireless devices whose size and weight are suitable for implantation, freeing the animal from exposed, bulky instruments and cables that alter behavior, generate noise artifacts during movement, and limit experimental design. Power consumption will be dramatically reduced as well by the fabrication strategy, enabling the use of miniature batteries as a power source during operation. Once constructed, assembled and packaged into a chronically implantable form, and tested, these devices will be used in animal experiments to investigate the role of dopamine in motivated behavior. This important brain neurotransmitter has been implicated in responding to rewards or the cues that predict rewards, and in altering the long-term functioning of brain circuits involved in motivation. By overcoming technical limitations of existing instrumentation, these new miniature wireless devices for will advance neurobiological investigations in the primary animal models used for the study of brain-behavior relationships and will extend this line of research to smaller animals whose size has previously limited inquiry. Such devices will ultimately be commercially viable driven by the needs of the larger neuroscience community. Through dissemination of these sensors and collaboration with users the sensor platform can evolve to meet emerging research needs. Additionally, this project will not only train undergraduate and graduate students in both science and engineering in the respective laboratories of the investigators, but it will also foster interdisciplinary training as the two laboratories will extensively and closely work together to develop and apply the new instrumentation. In a broader vein, the award will lead to establishing new working relationship between neurobiologists and engineers in support of both research and education.