NeuroRoots, a bio-inspired, seamless brain machine interface for long-term recording in delicate brain regions
Scalable electronic brain implants with long-term stability and low biological perturbation are crucial technologies for high-quality brain-machine interfaces that can seamlessly access delicate and hard-to-reach regions of the brain. Here, we created "NeuroRoots," a biomimetic multi-channel implant with similar dimensions (7 <i>μ</i>m wide and 1.5 <i>μ</i>m thick), mechanical compliance, and spatial distribution as axons in the brain. Unlike planar shank implants, these devices consist of a number of individual electrode "roots," each tendril independent from the other. A simple microscale delivery approach based on commercially available apparatus minimally perturbs existing neural architectures during surgery. NeuroRoots enables high density single unit recording from the cerebellum <i>in vitro</i> and <i>in vivo</i>. NeuroRoots also reliably recorded action potentials in various brain regions for at least 7 weeks during behavioral experiments in freely-moving rats, without adjustment of electrode position. This minimally invasive axon-like implant design is an important step toward improving the integration and stability of brain-machine interfacing.
Authors
- Nicholas A. Melosh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2601-1379)
- Adam Williamson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5632-0084)
- Christopher M. Proctor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2066-1354)
- George G. Malliaras (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4582-8501)
- Andrea Slézia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4528-3169)
- Jolien Pas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8017-7759)
- Jennifer L Raymond (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8145-747X)
- Alexander Gonzalez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7328-9533)
- Eric T. Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7196-2934)
- Marc Ferro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2409-7113)
- Lisa M. Giocomo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0416-2528)
- Mary J. Donahue (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9158-4026)
- Sriram Jayabal (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0485-6725)
- Gerwin Dijk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2482-9828)
- Maxwell Gagnon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3849-1699)
Institutions
- Linköping University (SE)
- Masaryk University (CZ)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Mines Saint-Étienne (FR)
- St. Anne's University Hospital Brno (CZ)
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology (HU)
- HUN-REN Research Centre for Natural Sciences (HU)
- Stanford University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- AIP Advances
- Published
- 2024-08-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0216979
- Citations
- 19
- Primary Topic
- Neuroscience and Neural Engineering
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.76
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Simons Foundation
- James S. McDonnell Foundation
- National Institutes of Health
- Horizon 2020 Framework Programme
- European Research Council
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke