Characterization of Mechanically Matched Hydrogel Coatings to Improve the Biocompatibility of Neural Implants

Glial scar is a significant barrier to neural implant function. Micromotion between the implant and tissue is suspected to be a key driver of glial scar formation around neural implants. This study explores the ability of soft hydrogel coatings to modulate glial scar formation by reducing local strain. PEG hydrogels with controllable thickness and elastic moduli were formed on the surface of neural probes. These coatings significantly reduced the local strain resulting from micromotion around the implants. Coated implants were found to significantly reduce scarring in vivo, compared to hard implants of identical diameter. Increasing implant diameter was found to significantly increase scarring for glass implants, as well as increase local BBB permeability, increase macrophage activation, and decrease the local neural density. These results highlight the tradeoff in mechanical benefit with the size effects from increasing the overall diameter following the addition of a hydrogel coating. This study emphasizes the importance of both mechanical and geometric factors of neural implants on chronic timescales

A chronically implantable neural device for on-demand microdosing of deep brain structures

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2016.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 54-59).Chronic neuropsychiatric diseases are increasingly consuming a larger portion of healthcare costs, in part due to a lack of effective treatment techniques. Through research into the pathology of these diseases we now know that most of these disorders are due to a loss in synchrony in a specific neural network. Effective treatments must seek to attenuate these network dynamics to establish normal neural communication. However, current treatments lack the spatiotemporal resolution to target networks with such specificity. The 'Injectrode' device developed here is a dual-lumen brain probe that is chronically implanted with wirelessly programmable micropumps for drug delivery on-demand. We establish the functionality of the system for repeated delivery of down to a few nanoliters of drug on-demand in vitro and in vivo, and show its biocompatibility over a 2-month implantation. This provides the foundation for testing of the system in a disease model, as well as the incorporation of additional features such as a recording or stimulating electrode. Combined with these tools, the injectrode system could serve as a closed loop device, delivering drug only when needed, ultimately allowing for efficacious independent disease management for chronic disorders.by Khalil B. Ramadi.S.M

Pre-emptive Innovation Infrastructure for Medical Emergencies: Accelerating Healthcare Innovation in the Wake of a Global Pandemic

Healthcare innovation is impeded by high costs, the need for diverse skillsets, and complex regulatory processes. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed critical gaps in the current framework, especially those lying at the boundary between cutting-edge academic research and industry-scale manufacturing and production. While many resource-rich geographies were equipped with the required expertise to solve challenges posed by the pandemic, mechanisms to unite the appropriate institutions and scale up, fund, and mobilize solutions at a time-scale relevant to the emergency were lacking. We characterize the orthogonal spatial and temporal axes that dictate innovation. Improving on their limitations, we propose a “pre-emptive innovation infrastructure” incorporating in-house hospital innovation teams, consortia-based assembly of expertise, and novel funding mechanisms to combat future emergencies. By leveraging the strengths of academic, medical, government, and industrial institutions, this framework could improve ongoing innovation and supercharge the infrastructure for healthcare emergencies

Electroceuticals in the Gastrointestinal Tract

The field of electroceuticals has attracted considerable attention over the past few decades as a novel therapeutic modality. The gastrointestinal (GI) tract (GIT) holds significant potential as a target for electroceuticals as the intersection of neural, endocrine, and immune systems. We review recent developments in electrical stimulation of various portions of the GIT (including esophagus, stomach, and small and large intestine) and nerves projecting to the GIT and supportive organs. This has been tested with varying degrees of success for several dysmotility, inflammatory, hormonal, and neurologic disorders. We outline a vision for the future of GI electroceuticals, building on advances in mechanistic understanding of GI physiology coupled with novel ingestible technologies. The next wave of electroceutical therapies will be minimally invasive and more targeted than current approaches, making them an indispensable tool in the clinical armamentarium

Plasmonics for neuroengineering

Abstract The evolving field of plasmonics has enabled the rise of engineered plasmonic nanomaterials to improve neural interface performance. Plasmonic nanostructures such as nanoparticles, if appropriately designed, can act as mediators to efficiently deliver light to target cells for less-invasive modulation with high spatial resolution than common electrical methods. Also, originating from either excitation of surface plasmons alone or in combination with thermoplasmonic effects, they can improve the performances of nanotools in neuroengineering. Here, we review plasmonic-based modalities and explore recent developments, advantages and limitations for minimally invasive neuromodulation, central nervous system disease diagnosis and therapy, and smart carrier-drug delivery toward the brain. The subject of the study stands at the interface of neuroscience and engineering. Thus, within the scope of this study, we provide background information about the nervous system and its underlying basic biology, types of neural interfaces, as well as the physics of surface plasmons and thermoplasmonic phenomena

Grass-roots entrepreneurship complements traditional top-down innovation in lung and breast cancer

Abstract The majority of biomedical research is funded by public, governmental, and philanthropic grants. These initiatives often shape the avenues and scope of research across disease areas. However, the prioritization of disease-specific funding is not always reflective of the health and social burden of each disease. We identify a prioritization disparity between lung and breast cancers, whereby lung cancer contributes to a substantially higher socioeconomic cost on society yet receives significantly less funding than breast cancer. Using search engine results and natural language processing (NLP) of Twitter tweets, we show that this disparity correlates with enhanced public awareness and positive sentiment for breast cancer. Interestingly, disease-specific venture activity does not correlate with funding or public opinion. We use outcomes from recent early-stage innovation events focused on lung cancer to highlight the complementary mechanism by which bottom-up “grass-roots” initiatives can identify and tackle under-prioritized conditions

Erratum: Characterization of Mechanically Matched Hydrogel Coatings to Improve the Biocompatibility of Neural Implants

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML version of this paper. The error has not been fixed in the paper

Plasmonic Contact Lenses Based on Silver Nanoparticles for Blue Light Protection

Constant exposure to blue light emanating from screens, lamps, digital devices, or other artificial sources at night can suppress melatonin secretion, potentially compromising both sleep quality and overall health. Daytime exposure to elevated levels of blue light can also lead to permanent damage to the eyes. Here, we have developed blue light protective plasmonic contact lenses (PCLs) to mitigate blue light exposure. Crafted from poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (pHEMA) and infused with silver nanoparticles, these contact lenses serve as a protective barrier to filter blue light. Leveraging the plasmonic properties of silver nanoparticles, the lenses effectively filtered out the undesirable blue light (400–510 nm), demonstrating substantial protection (22–71%) while maintaining high transparency (80–96%) for the desirable light (511–780 nm). The maximum protection level reaches a peak of 79% at 455 nm, aligned with the emission peak for the blue light sourced from LEDs in consumer displays. The presence of silver nanoparticles was found to have an insignificant impact on the water content of the developed contact lenses. The lenses maintained high water retention levels within the range of 50–70 wt %, comparable to commercial contact lenses. The optical performance of the developed lenses remains unaffected in both artificial tears and contact lens storage solution over a month with no detected leakage of the nanoparticles. Additionally, the MTT assay confirmed that the lenses were biocompatible and noncytotoxic, maintaining cell viability at over 85% after 24 h of incubation. These lenses could be a potential solution to protect against the most intense wavelengths emitted by consumer displays and offer a remedy to counteract the deleterious effects of prolonged blue light exposure