Achieving the long-term and high-quality recording of dynamic neural activity from different brain regions by microelectrode arrays (MEAs) is a crucial goal of the neuroscience community. Silicon and metals are among the most common materials from which the MEAs are fabricated. Unfortunately, such rigid probes can cause severe immune responses in the surrounding tissues, leading to signal degradation and duration of use. Therefore, we develop polymer-based MEAs, using Parylene and polyimide, and that can achieve chronic high quality electrophysiological recordings.
Our Goals
1: Develop a library of high-density polymer MEAs that target different brain regions,
including deep brain regions, and can be used in different animal models: We design, fabricate, and test neural probes and arrays based on thin film polymer backbones (Parylene and polyimide) for small and large animal models.
2: Develop and systematically evaluate insertion methods for MEAs having different
lengths and arrays of varying densities: Implantation of polymer MEAs requires the aid of surgical placement methods to achieve accurate targeting. Therefore, we will also develop and evaluate suitable insertion methods for different brain regions across different species.
3: In vivo evaluation of MEAs and histological analysis in mouse, rat, and nonhuman primates (NHP): We will demonstrate our designed probes and arrays by implanting them into multiple regions and then record local field potentials in mouse, rat, and NHP performing various behavioral tasks. The results will be compared with that recorded by rigid arrays. In addition, the immune response of the brain tissue are going to be quantified as an essential benchmark to evaluate the performance of the arrays
The outcomes of this research program are shared here on this website (designs and protocols). Publications related to this work include:
A Library of Polymer-based Microelectrode Array Designs for Recording from the Brain of Different Animal Models (IEEE EMBC 2023; link to IEEE Xplore forthcoming)
Prior publications related to this work include:
A Shared Resource for Building Polymer-Based Microelectrode Arrays as Neural Interfaces
A 512-Channel Multi-Layer Polymer-Based Neural Probe Array
A Parylene Neural Probe Array for Multi-Region Deep Brain Recordings