We propose to demonstrate the feasibility of softening multi-shank microelectrode arrays which are stiff during insertion and soft during chronic use. To date, no one has demonstrated a 3D softening electrode array. Current technologies, made from silicon can be miniature, high-density, batch-fabricated and capable of supporting active on-board electronics. Silicon, however, is a brittle material, and while its stiffness allows for easy implant into soft neural tissue, it presents a serious mechanical mismatch between the implanted device and the soft neural tissue after implant. Other current penetrating flexible electronics technologies have been limited to 2D structures. In this Phase I SBIR proposal, Qualia Inc. will explore the feasibility of adapting its planar processing thin film photolithography technologies into a third dimension. Previous SBIR funding from DARPA helped establish our shape memory polymer (SMP) substrates as candidates for chronically viable neural implants. However, our past studies have been limited to 2D devices. In this proposal, which is focused on innovative packaging technologies, we aim to create 3D architectures which fill a critical void in the neuroscience research community.
Public Health Relevance Statement: Project Narrative A central goal of contemporary neuroscience is to understand the relationships between the functional connectivity-map of neuronal circuits and their physiological or pathological functions. Current multi-shank microelectrode arrays, the tools used to assess these phenomena, are not chronically stable limiting their clinical efficacy. Qualia Inc. proposes a softening 3D multi-shank electrode technology that could extend the lifetime and increase the performance of implantable bioelectronics.
Project Terms: Acrylates; Aging; Architecture; Area; base; Brain; BRAIN initiative; Chronic; Clinical; clinical efficacy; Communities; Complex; density; design; Device Designs; Devices; Dimensions; Disease; electric impedance; electrical property; Electrodes; Electronics; Equipment Malfunction; Film; Finite Element Analysis; flexibility; flexible electronics; Funding; Gliosis; Goals; Health; Implant; implantable device; implantation; In Vitro; in vivo; Individual; Inflammatory Response; innovation; insight; Laboratories; manufacturing process; Maps; materials science; mechanical properties; Mechanics; Memory; Methods; Microelectrodes; microstimulation; Modeling; Modulus; neural implant; neuroinflammation; neuronal circuitry; Neurons; neuroprosthesis; Neurosciences; Neurosciences Research; neurotechnology; Pathologic; Performance; Periodicity; Phase; Physiological; Polymers; Property; Rattus; relating to nervous system; Reproducibility; response; Shapes; Silicon; Site; Small Business Innovation Research Grant; Spectrum Analysis; Structure; Sulfhydryl Compounds; Technology; Thinness; Tissues; tool; Utah; virtual
