MR-LINK LLC — Department of Health and Human Services STTR Phase I: 101

Description

Project Summary The use of technologies for imagingrecording and modulating brain activity is rapidly advancing neuroscienceNotablymicroelectrodes are used to locally record neural activity or to perturb circuit functionFunctional magnetic resonance imagingfMRIis widely used to image large scale patterns of hemodynamic fluctuations accompanying neural activityAlthough these techniques have become the workhorse of basic and translational neurosciencethey are mainly employed separately and provide only partial views of brain functions with massively different spatiotemporal resolution and specificityAt presentthere is no established way to combine these multimodal and multiscale techniques into a fully integrated system that would allow us to link local neuronal events or modulations to large scale network activitiesThe absence of such a system will continue to present significant barriers that impede bridging brain activity across spatial and temporal scalesThere is a critical need to develop a novel system that will enable and integrate simultaneous neural imagingrecording and modulation at local and global scales for a variety of neuroscience applicationsTo meet this critical needMR Link LLCand its partners at Purdue Universitypropose to developtest and commercialize a uniquePurdue IPandampintegrated system for concurrent fMRIelectrical recording and stimulationCentral to this system is a novel microelectronic devicewhich will be miniaturizedbattery freeand wirelessto enable high density neural recording and modulation during high throughput brain scansIt will also eliminate the effects of electromagnetic interferenceutilize existing hardware in the MRI system for multimodal capabilitiesenable synchronized and concurrent neural recordingstimulation and imagingand reduce the size and cost of MRI compatible neural recording or stimulation systemsThusthe device is well suited for wide commercialization to accelerate neuroscience research in basic and clinical settingsPhase I Specific AimsDevelop the MR Link devices for neural recording and stimulationandTest the MR Link devices with in vivo experiments on rats inT MRIAt the conclusion of Phase IMR Link and its research partners at Purdue will have designed and fabricated the deviceand also tested the feasibilityefficacyand safety of using theMR Linkfor simultaneous in vivo recordingstimulationand imaging of the rat brainPhase I will lay the technical foundation for Phase IIin which MR Link will continue to refine the design for recording and stimulating the human brainscale up toorrecording stimulation channelsminiaturize the device through nanofabricationprepare and start mass production for wide disseminationand partner with major MRI manufacturers to integrate MR Link devices with all research and clinical MRI systemsMR Link will supply more affordableaccessiblereliableand powerful solutions for simultaneous neural imagingrecordingand stimulation in animals and humanscreating a new window of opportunity to transform basic neuroscience research and advance clinical diagnosis and treatment of brain disorders Project Narrative The proposed project is to developrefinevalidateand commercialize a novel microelectronic deviceto enable simultaneous neural recording and stimulation during concurrent magnetic resonance imagingThis device will enable the seamless integration of imagingelectrophysiologyand neuromodulationto accelerate the progress in basic and translational neuroscience researchand to potentially improve the accuracy and efficacy of diagnosis and treatment of brain disorders