Edible Neuroprosthetics · Development of fully dissolvable devices and application as implanted neuroprostheses
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2016-04-01 → 2018-03-31
- EU contribution
- €175,420
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
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Results in brief
Development of fully dissolvable devices and application as implanted neuroprostheses
Neuroprosthetics aims at the development and intimate integration of artificial devices with the neural tissue, in order to restore impaired or lost human functions, such as sensory and motor behaviours (1,2). One of the main issues in Neuroprosthetics is represented by the materials used in electronic devices, such as metal and silicon, that are quite different from those exploited in biology by nature (3). Due to their structural kinship to biological building blocks and their ability to support electronic as well as ionic transport, carbon-based materials like conjugated polymers became attractive candidates for the translation between the electron-based world of electronics and the ion- and molecular-based world of biology. Their key enabling features, such as being biocompatible, biodegradable, soft and conformable, combined with their conductivity make them suitable for the design of devices with similar functionality as traditional electronics. Nevertheless, the main limiting factor of these materials is their natural biodegradability, which limits the device lifetime in the biological environment up to few months. As a consequence, the research effort in organic bio-electronics is now focused on evaluating new fabrication and encapsulation strategies to obtain highly biocompatible implants with an extended lifetime. On the contrary, transient bio-electronics is an emerging field exploiting standard inorganic electronic devices capable of disappearing in the body in a controlled manner, with a time-scale ranging from days to months or years (4,5). Transient devices could find application as implantable diagnostic or therapeutic tools in order to avoid long-term side effects and eliminate the need for retrieval. Edible Neuroprosthetics aims at diverting the paradigm in organic bio-electronics by exploiting the transient concept. Effectively, it benefits from the natural feature of conductive polymers to disappear in the body, in order to create highly compatible and transient prosthetic devices. In summary, Edible Neuroprosthetics exploits soft organic polymers as material of choice for the development of innovative implantable and dissolvable prosthetic devices. [1] Zrenner, E. Sci Transl Med (2013). [2] Borton, D. et al. Sci Transl Med (2013). [3] Lanzani, G. Nature Materials (2014). [4] Hwang, S.-W. et al. Science (2012). [5] Hwang, S.-W. et al. Nano letters (2015).
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Restoring sensory and motor human functions is the main goal of Neuroprosthetics. The development and integration of artificial devices with neural tissues is therefore a very important research branch, which aims at improving the quality of human life. Recently, many advances have been made in this field by exploiting implantable organic devices able to accomplish a specific task inside the biological environment and last as much as possible before being removed.Within this scenario, the project aims at pushing the current state-of-the-art of Neuroprosthetic further by implementing a concept of ‘Edible Neuroprosthetics’, which consists in bio-electronic devices able to be literally digested by the cellular environment of the host after they have achieved their target. Novel fully biodegradable microelectrode arrays will therefore be fabricated on flexible substrates by implementing highly biocompatible and edible materials with innovative soft fabrication techniques. Their deterioration rate and change in the mechanical and electrical properties will be assessed with in-vitro ageing studies, followed by in-vivo tests in order to supply a proof-of-principle for future clinical applications.The inter-disciplinary and innovative aspects of the project will have a profound effect on the personal scientific background of the applicant as well as on her future career as independent researcher. The new skills she will acquire together with the new techniques she will learn and the wide scientific network she will actively be involved in will contribute to the formation of a strong and versatile research figure in Neuroprosthetics. Moreover, the results will provide unprecedented insight within the edible device concept, therefore making an important breakthrough, which will direct the Neuroprosthetic world towards less invasive bio-implants.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE · LausanneCoordinatorSwitzerland
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union