Stretchable micro-Organic Electrochemical Transistors Circuits for Neural Interfacing

This project is aimed at developing active soft neural probes for high-resolution, high-density interfacing of the peripheral nervous system (PNS).

The availability of high-resolution PNS interfaces is key to the treatment and management of a number of common medical conditions such as neuropathic and chronic pain, paralysis, major depression, and epilepsy.

Two major challenges that hinder progress in this area are: i) Mechanical mismatch between the neural tissue and the conventionally used neural probe materials (e.g. metal wires). ii) The electrode density and spreading is limited by the use of passive linear probes. This project seeks to address both these issues by developing miniaturized inert, ultra-soft (E<50kPa) multi-headed probes, which can be actuated in situ to record from a large volume of the neural tissue with high spatial resolution.

This is combined with integration of multiple active neural transducer elements and integrated amplification circuitry for high signal fidelity and integrated multiplexing circuitry for addressing, into each probe arm.

This approach simultaneously increases spatial resolution and signal fidelity of neural interfacing, while enabling chronic implantability due to decreased chronic immune response and scarring through the inert and mechanically compliant nature of the probes, as well as minimized tissue damage during implantation.