Register for the Topics in Bioengineering Fall 2020 Series here (via Zoom). Registration is quick and easy; you only have to sign up once to receive the link that will be used for all TIB webinars this semester. 

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In the past decade, developments in materials science, electronics and biology have opened pathways to novel and precise communication with biological tissues.  Several of these new designs are being deployed for neuroscience research; some advance towards medical research and therapy. 

The design, manufacturing and implementation of neural interfaces is an interdisciplinary venture by essence.  Functional neuroanatomy guides the topology of the interface.  Neuronal communication drives transducers modalities and interconnections.  Clinical conditions ultimately lead interfaces’ functions and lifetime. 

Soft neural systems take the form of thin-film electronics embedded in polymeric carriers and offer multiple modes of communication and biomechanical stealthing.  This talk will review a range of designs and materials, with associated fabrication techniques, to engineer implantable neural interfaces that can read and modulate neural activity. Examples include wirelessly controlled, conformal optoelectronic implants, soft cortical electrode systems and dura-like electrodes arrays.  Each system is scalable across species and designed to enable long-term use in freely behaving animals.