3D bionic network as a closed-loop interface for bidirectional communication with cells and tissues

University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC

Investigators

Abstract

Enabling real-time optimization in biomedical systems could revolutionize the existing medical technology today, allowing medicine to be more personalized and therapeutics to be more precise. Particularly, such real-time optimization is promising to enable advanced proactive treatment for stroke, cardiovascular diseases, neurological disorders, and others, with enhanced efficacy, reduced risks/toxicity, and sustaining effects over a long period. Recent advancements in bioelectronics achieved the tissue-like mechanics and miniaturized architectures to form an intimate interface with skin or internal organs, for enhanced biosensing; However, the unidirectional pathway of communications at the biotic-abiotic interface limits the device adaptability and time-dynamic optimization. Grand challenges remain in the development of an intimate electronic interface to communicate bidirectionally with biological living systems at multiscale and in a benign fashion. This proposal aims to study physical and biological communications at the biotic-abiotic interface and understand fundamental mechanisms that enable heterogeneous integration of multi-materials systems for bidirectional communications with cells and tissues. These proposed projects will enable a systematic understanding of the integration schemes, structural designs, materials mechanics, electronics fabrication, and interfacing compatibility to advance personalized healthcare with smart sensing and dynamic optimization. The proposed research pathway will lead to the design and develop a 3D bionic network as a communication portal to deepen our understanding of brain development and disease pathology, and to equip medicine with unconventional intelligence. The innovative efforts in 3D structural design and hybrid construction of functional materials will form an engineering foundation for creating cell-favored modalities of communications, which will open up new opportunities in both fundamental research in biology and clinical medicine. Real-time knowledge of metabolic and physiological variations associated with critical diseases is essential in providing target-specific, timely, and effective therapeutic treatments. Sensing local changes in tissue mechanics, pH, and electrophysiology can serve as the feedback basis to optimize, dynamically, pharmacological delivery schedules, surgical intervention procedures, and recovery/rehabilitation protocols. However, existing biomedical systems often separate sensing from stimulation/treatment both spatially and temporally, thus leading to a delayed response to emergence of adverse events, missed opportunities for therapeutic interventions, and potential risks of side effects. This proposal aims to develop and design a bionic electronic network that relies on bio-inspired design approaches to enable cell-favored modalities of closed-loop communications with the goal to blur the barrier at the biotic-abiotic interface and ensure communication stability, sensitivity, and accuracy. Developing a multi-modality platform that integrates biosensing and stimulation at microscale, with high performance and robust operational characteristics can form a closed-loop interfacing network that enables holistic integration and communications with the biological counterpart. The bionic electronic network could be configured as an electronic implant with enhanced biocompatibility and advanced sensing capabilities, including biofluidic pressure, microenvironment temperature, electrophysiology, tissue deformation, and others. The envisioned systems aim to orchestrate sensing and stimulation in a natural and undisruptive fashion to potentially deepen the understanding of wound healing, monitor cardiovascular physiology, modulate the cellular metabolism, and eventually innovate proactive treatment. 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.