BLACKROCK MICROSYSTEMS, INC — Department of Health and Human Services STTR Phase I: 101

Description

DESCRIPTIONprovided by applicantFunctional magnetic resonance imagingfMRIhas become one of the leading research tools to study brain function and is playing a pivotal role in several large scale brain mapping projects worldwideDespite ongoing technical advancements in MRI which have greatly increased its availability and helped improve the resolution for functional brain mappingwe still have very limited understanding of what fMRI signals really representThe fact that hemodynamic fMRI does not provide direct measurement of neuronal activities precludes many potential applications involving studies of neuronal circuit functionIn contrastelectrophysiology detects actual electrical signaling with unsurpassed temporal and spatial resolutionbut generally falls short of providing information in a large scale network levl due to a limited number of recording sitesThe desire to combine the strengths of both approaches prompted us to develop a high resolution MRcompatible microelectrode arraypermitting examination of electrophysiological signatures during MRI as well as evaluation of deep brain stimulationDBSefficacy using fMRIOur pilot data have demonstrated success in using an advanced micromachining approach to fabricate a miniature electrode array with high density electrodesdown tom pitchIn contrast to many platinum iridiumglassand silicon based electrodesour microelectrode uses a flexiblehighly biocompatibleand MR compatible base substratepolyimidewhich is known to better match the mechanical impedance of the brain than the other materials commonly usedOur previous work has optimized the rigidity of our electrode by experimenting with various thicknesses and layer designsThis unique tool is extremely important to accommodate a variety of over head MR coils and gradient inserts with small inner diameters because the majority of the brain coilsparticularly the ones for preclinical small animal systemsare too large to permit the placement of a percutaneous connector on the headAdditionallythe probe has a built in ribbon cable to the connector which can be placed few centimeters away from the MR radio frequencyRFcoilsreducing the potential for RF induced heatingvoltage changesand MR related noise during electrophysiological recordingIn this PhaseSTTR awardwe will quantitatively evaluate this novel microelectrode array in vivo using rat subjectswith Aimstudying ultra high resolution DBS fMRIand Aimdeveloping validating tools for simultaneous fMRI and electrophysiological recordingThese studies will be crucial for the future success in commercializing the probe as it will generate preliminary data for marketing and also set the foundation for various types of applications to study neural circuits in normal and diseased brainsWe believe our work will result in a highly unique productopening up a new avenue to explore and validate functional connectivity in the brain with a resolution and scale that cannot be achieved by traditional fMRI or electrophysiology alone PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCEGiven the increasing use of magnetic resonance imagingMRIin brain researchunderstanding of what MRI signals really represent has become a fundamental yet fully elusive research topicRecent neuroscience neuroimaging research has also emphasized the importance of using multi modal approachesin which the data are acquired by multiple approaches so as to comprehensively interpret a specific neural eventOur project aims to bridge two of the most powerful and widely used research clinical tools used in neuroscienceMRI and electrophysiologyby creating a novel MR compatiblechannel microelectrode arrayThe unique design of our tool allows the electrode shank to be bent to accommodate various insertion scenarios in the MRI environment while maintaining the stiffness required to penetrate brain tissueThis microelectrode array addresses two major applicationshigh resolution electrophysiology and deep brain stimulationBoth of whichin combination with simultaneous MRIcomprise a highly innovative platform which vastly improves our understanding of brain function and neural circuit connectivity