Graphene microtransistors: a wide-bandwidth technology for recording brain field potentials
#IMBCNMThesis #IMBCNMPhD
By Eduard Masvidal Codina, who will defend his PhD thesis on 12th July.
Thesis directed by Anton Guimerà (IMB-CNM) and José Antonio Garrido (ICN2).
High density recordings of neural activity are vital in research focused to uncover the underlying processes of complex brain functions and pathophysiology; have applications in medical diagnosis, prognosis and treatment monitoring and are the base of assistive neuroprosthesis. However, current recording technologies are unable to meet all the requirements of a reliable, high fidelity neural interface. Particularly, a current limitation of microelectrode grids is that due to both material-related electrochemical unstabilities and/or high impedance, the recording of infraslow activity (ISA, ≈ < 0.1 Hz), contributing to both physiology and to pathologies such as brain injury or epilepsy, is hampered.
In this PhD dissertation, flexible neural interfaces based on graphene solution-gated field-effect transistors (gSGFETs) are developed and their feasibility for in vivo brain field potential recording is evaluated and benchmarked against state-of-the-art recording technologies. Results obtained demonstrate that gSGFET technology overcomes the limitations of current passive microelectrode grids for mapping ISA activity. Combination of gSGFETs with cutting edge neurotechnologies such as optogenetics and brain imaging is also demonstrated. Overall, the gSGFET technology developed is mature and ready to be adopted by research laboratories, holding special potential for basic and preclinical ISA-related research.