CAREER:Bio-artificial Neuromorphic System Based on Synaptic Devices

University Of California-San Diego, La Jolla CA

Investigators

Abstract

Engineering seamless interfaces between the brain and electronics is becoming increasingly important for advancing practical applications of new neurotechnologies and medical devices. To-date most of the efforts for interfacing with the brain have relied on microelectrode arrays. However, the interface between conventional microelectrodes and biological tissue is highly inefficient and unstable due to (i) Poor signal transduction between the tissue and electronics, (ii) Limited information transfer capacity of microelectrode arrays, and (iii) Severe foreign body response induced by invasive implantable microelectrodes. To bridge the gap between the brain and electronics, an interface technology, which can physically and functionally integrates with the biological tissue is needed. The aim of the proposed research is to develop a neuromorphic interface made of synthetic synaptic devices to form a stable, long-term input/output interface to the brain. Such a technology can help development of targeted and selective neuromodulation therapies for various neurological disorders (epilepsy, depression, memory disorders, etc) affecting one billion people worldwide. Long-term chronic studies enabled by this technology can revolutionize the speed of progress in brain activity mapping. The proposed interdisciplinary project will be integrated with educational and outreach activities, including hands-on laboratory training for students, rigorous training on fundamentals of bioelectronic devices for engineering specialists and outreach activities towards underrepresented communities from K-12 to graduate levels focusing on women and local Hispanic communities. Over the last decade, motivated partially by the race for developing better performing computation systems, significant progress has been made in developing neuromorphic devices and circuits that mimic biological neurons and synapses. So far, research on synaptic devices has only focused on increasing the efficiency of existing computational systems. This on-going research on neuromorphic devices, when combined with emerging neurotechnologies, offers unprecedented potential to engineer bio-artificial neuromorphic circuits, which can address the shortcomings of the brain computer interfaces and bridge the gap between the brain and electronics. The primary goal of the proposed research is to develop to a neuromorphic interface, which will serve as a translator adapting time, amplitude and shape characteristics of the electrical stimuli transmitted to/from the brain. The challenges that will be addressed during the course of the project include: (1) Development of biocompatible plastic synaptic devices, (2) Enhancement of synaptic device-cell coupling and effective signal transduction, and (3) Development of a platform for construction of bio-artificial neuromorphic tissue. In vivo integration of the neuromorphic tissue with the brain will also be investigated to demonstrate a stable neural interface with natural signal processing capability. The proposed work will build upon the PI's interdisciplinary expertise and experience in neuromorphic devices and implantable neural interfaces. The bio-artificial neuromorphic interface will be a key enabler to functionally transmit information to/from the brain overcoming the biocompatibility and biostability limitations of implantable devices.