A High Density Electrophysiological Data Analysis System for a Peripheral Nerve Interface Communicating with Individual Neurons in the Brain
Abstract
The Defense University Research Instrumentation !Program (DURIP) is designed to improve the capabilities of U.S. Universities to conduct research and to educate scientists and engineers in selected technical areas of importance to national defense. DURIP funding provides for the acquisition of research equipment and instrumentation for this purpose. This proposal is for the acquisition of a high density recording system with electrical stimulation from Tucker-Davis Technologies. Inc., Alachua, FL. The P.I., Professor Yoonsu Choi, of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley will use the equipment to augment and enhance research capabilities in the area of developing scalable micro peripheral nerve interfaces for interaction with neurons. The proposed instrument will allow us to capture biological signals from the body with unprecedented detail and further process them to decode invaluable behavioral data. Currently we have developed scalable micro peripheral nerve interfaces which can interact with individual brain neurons. With the proposed system, we will have the necessary capability to build a high density communication highway between brain neurons and imelligenl vehicles or robots. The final outcome of the proposed work will be beneficial to wounded warriors suffering from loss of limb function. so that, using sophisticated bidirectional robotic limbs, these individuals could be recruited again, allowing highly trained military personnel to continue their careers after what would normally be a career ending incidents. An amputee s decoded and reprogramed sensory and motor system will be able to control real-time and/or remote intelligent vehicles or robots. The proposed data acquisition system would support ongoing multidisciplinary research at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. It will also provide student training in the increasingly interrelated areas of Electrical Engineering and Neuroscience, which has become and will continue to be an important academic and research field. The major goal of the proposed work is to develop a cellular-level neuronal communication network which shows how individual cells and complex neural circuits interact in both time and space. The unique approach of the proposed work compared to the current state-of-the-art brain mapping projects is that the proposed neuronal communication network and brain mapping will be developed in live animal subjects. Neuronal interface signals captured from awake freely behaving animals are crucial for the next level of cli nical applications. Although we could compile details of cellular or even subcellular information from deceased animal brains, such a database would hardly match the necessary behavioral or maneuvering aspects required to advance Brain-machine-interfaces and prosthetic robot controls. The micro peripheral nerve interface can be utilized to accurately address these goals and is designed specifically to communicate with individual neurons and neuronal networks in the brain.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jan 12, 2017
- Source ID
- W911NF1510343
Entities
People
- Yoonsu Choi
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- United States Army
- University of Texas Rio Grande Valley