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The Future Is Not What It Used to Be
Published in Tom Lawry, Hacking Healthcare, 2022
Researchers at UC Berkeley recently built what is thought to be the smallest volume, most efficient wireless server simulator. Known as StimDust (short for simulation neural dust), it is intended to one day be implanted in the body through minimally invasive procedures to monitor and treat disease in a real time, patient-specific approach. StimDust is just 6.5 cubic millimeters in volume and powered wirelessly by ultrasound, which the device then uses to power nerve stimulation at an efficiency of 82%.7
Advances in Neuroprosthetics
Published in Chang S. Nam, Anton Nijholt, Fabien Lotte, Brain–Computer Interfaces Handbook, 2018
There are four primary challenges when considering the development of a wireless neural recording neuroprosthetic: three of the issues listed in Table 6.1—implant longevity, micromotion, and CNS tissue mechanics—as well as high power requirements. Neural dust (Seo et al. 2013, 2016) is a DARPA-funded (DARPA 2016) novel implant design utilizing thousands of 10- to 100-μm independent free-floating sensor nodes that detect extracellular electrophysiological data without requiring batteries for power or communications. In addition to low-power CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) circuits, neural dust employs ultrasonic power transmission (Arra et al. 2007) and radio-frequency–based ambient backscatter communications (Liu et al. 2013). The neural dust acquires, records, and transmits data electromyogram and electroneurogram—muscular and neuronal electrical activity, respectively—to a subdural (see Figure 6.4) transceiver implant that also provides power and communications. In conjunction with a transceiver, an external transducer is affixed to the skull surface to provide both subdural and long-range external communications (see Figure 6.5).
The future of neuromodulation: smart neuromodulation
Published in Expert Review of Medical Devices, 2021
Dirk De Ridder, Jarek Maciaczyk, Sven Vanneste
New, less invasive electrode designs with improved integration in the brain are also required. Some new technologies such as injectable mesh electronics have already been developed [71]. Here, the electronics are injected through the skull and the gauze with electronics rolls itself out over the surface of the brain. In animals, it has already been shown that these gauze electrodes integrate seamlessly with the brain, in contrast to thin film electronics, which are still used today [72]. These new electronics result in stable measurements of brain activity, an essential prerequisite for successful use [73]. Neural dust is another new form of electronics. It concerns individual electrodes of 1 mm that are powered ultrasonically. These electrodes communicate with each other and create a scalable, wireless, and battery-free system for communication with the nervous system [74].
Perspectives on the current developments with neuromodulation for the treatment of epilepsy
Published in Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, 2020
Churl-Su Kwon, Nathalie Jetté, Saadi Ghatan
New strategies to deliver electronics that are less invasive and that have better integration in the brain are expected. Conventional electrodes conform less than 100% to a curved biological surface, are more rigid with a large mismatch in bending stiffness resulting in relative sheer motion, glial scarring and neuron depletion at the probe–brain interface which can lead to suboptimal placement and contact as well as aggravating an immune response to a foreign body [56]. Flexible electronics that conform to non-planar surfaces with targeted delivery to specific regions of the brain are a challenge. Promising innovative technologies exist including syringe-injectable electronics that inject sub-micrometer-thick, centimeter-scale macroporous mesh electronics into brain parenchyma [56]. This device not only exhibits biocompatibility with neuronal recordings at very high spatial and functional resolutions but also demonstrates the capability of compressing such a device small enough to pass through a bore of a syringe. Other neural interface platforms such as neural dust technology is also an exciting new development toward wireless power and communication as well as not relying on electromagnetic energy transfer. This technology uses ultrasonic readouts from millimeter scale piezoelectric motes ‘neural dust’ within neural parenchyma to enable a neural interface platform [57].