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Grant advances neuroscience project
:: 10 June, 2007
The National Institutes of Health recently awarded a four-year $1 million grant for a research project being conducted in the Neural Microsystems Laboratory in the Harrington Department of Bioengineering.
Jit Muthuswamy, an associate professor in the department, is the principal investigator for the project titled “Single neuronal recordings using movable microprobes.” The research involves brain implants that pick up neural signals and transmit them to an artificial limb or an external electronic device such as a computer, which Muthuswamy says will one day help people who are paralyzed or have spinal injuries or pathologies such as Lou Gehrig's disease.
Muthuswamy says current brain implants fail within a few months after implantation and are not consistent and reliable in sensing the neural signals. The project aims to develop a brain implant that can move through the brain to seek the neurons with the strongest signals and therefore improve the reliability and consistency in sensing neural signals. The implants and the motors that drive the implants will be developed using advanced micromachining technology in collaboration with Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico.
Besides brain prostheses application, this technology also will have a significant impact on basic neuroscience studies such as memory, learning and plasticity, and auditory physiology, which depend on long-term monitoring of single neurons in specific areas of the brain.
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About The Bio Design Institute-
The Biodesign Institute is focused on preventing and curing disease, overcoming the pain and limitations of injury, renewing and sustaining our environment, and securing a safer world. To accelerate the pace of discovery, the Institute merges formerly distinct fields of research. These include biology, chemistry, physics, medicine, agriculture, environmental science, electronics, materials science, engineering and computing.
Despite its diversity, our research shares a common starting point – exploring the remarkable structure and function of living systems. From microbes to man, these systems have been honed by thousands of years of natural selection. Inspired by nature and powered by collaboration, our bold new approach ensures that discoveries are rapidly translated into real-world benefits.
About The reearch work of Jit Muthuswamy-
Research work:
My research interests are in the areas of Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) for Neural prosthesis and brain injury. The Engineering and Neuroscience research efforts in my lab are primarily directed towards understanding and treating brain injury due to oxygen deprivation and/or ischemia. Projects are funded in part by the NIH and the Whitaker foundation.
I. MEMS for Neural prosthesis
I am currently working on several projects involving the use of microfabricated actuators and sensors as enabling technologies in the Neurophysiology of brain injury. These technologies are targeted toward obtaining electrical and neurochemical information at the cellular level while animals are recovering from brain injury. However, these microdevices also promise to substantially impact other studies on neuronal plasticity, memory formation and consolidation, somatosensory perception and motor tasks and auditory neurophysiology in the hands of my collaborators. There are several mechanical, electrical and material-tissue interface engineering issues that make this project very challenging. My technical collaborators on this project include the Sandia National laboratories in Albuquerque, NM. This project is funded by the National Institute of Neurological disorders and Stroke of the NIH and the Whitaker foundation.
II. Ischemic Brain injury
The problem of injury to the brain due to oxygen deprivation is of critical signficance in cardio-pulmonary bypass procedures, stroke, neonatal asphyxia, etc. An understanding of cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie reversible and irreversible neuronal injury and subsequent recovery will be critical in engineering novel prosthetic devices and designing effective therapeutic strategies for improved neurological outcomes. I am attempting to unravel these neuronal and molecular mechanisms through real-time multi-modal interactions with single neurons in in-vitro and in-vivo models.
Release link: http://www.asu.edu/news/stories/200706/20070606_neuroscience.htm
