bioelectronic device
Tiny transistor enables device to acquire and transmit neurophysiologic
brain signals while simultaneously providing power to the implanted device


Date:
July 10, 2023
Source:
Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science
Summary:
Researchers have announced that they have developed the first stand-
alone, conformable, fully organic bioelectronic device that can
not only acquire and transmit neurophysiologic brain signals,
but can also provide power for device operation.


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FULL STORY ==========================================================================
As researchers make major advances in medical care, they are also
discovering that the efficacy of these treatments can be enhanced by individualized approaches. Therefore, clinicians increasingly need
methods that can both continuously monitor physiological signals and
then personalize responsive delivery of therapeutics.

Need for safe, flexible bioelectronic devices Implanted bioelectronic
devices are playing a critical role in these treatments, but there are a
number of challenges that have stalled their widespread adoption. These
devices require specialized components for signal acquisition,
processing, data transmission, and powering. Up to now, achieving these capabilities in an implanted device has entailed using numerous rigid
and non-biocompatible components that can lead to tissue disruption and
patient discomfort. Ideally, these devices need to be biocompatible,
flexible, and stable in the long term in the body. They also must be
fast and sensitive enough to record rapid, low-amplitude biosignals,
while still being able to transmit data for external analysis.

Columbia researchers invent first stand-alone, flexible, fully organic bioelectronic device Columbia Engineering researchers announced today
that they have developed the first stand-alone, conformable, fully
organic bioelectronic device that can not only acquire and transmit neurophysiologic brain signals, but can also provide power for device operation. This device, about 100 times smaller than a human hair,
is based on an organic transistor architecture that incorporates a
vertical channel and a miniaturized water conduit demonstrating long-term stability, high electrical performance, and low-voltage operation to
prevent biological tissue damage. The findings are outlined in a new
study, published today in Nature Materials.

Both researchers and clinicians knew there was a need for transistors
that concurrently pose all of these features: low voltage of
operation, biocompatibility, performance stability, conformability
for in vivo operation; and high electrical performance, including
fast temporal response, high transconductance, and crosstalk-free
operation. Silicon-based transistors are the most established
technologies, but they are not a perfect solution because they are
hard, rigid, and unable to establish a very efficient ion interface
with the body. ] The team addressed these issues by introducing a
scalable, self-contained, sub- micron IGT (internal-ion-gated organic electrochemical transistor) architecture, the vIGT. They incorporated a vertical channel arrangement that augments the intrinsic speed of the
IGT architecture by optimizing channel geometry and permitting a high
density arrangement of transistors next to each other -- , 155,000of
them per centimeter square.

Scalable vGITs are the fastest electrochemical transistors The vIGTs
are composed of biocompatible, commercially available materials that
do not require encapsulation in biological environments and are not
impaired by exposure to water or ions. The composite material of the
channel can be reproducibly manufactured in large quantities and is solution-processible, making it more accessible to a broad range of
fabrication processes. They are flexible and compatible with integration
into a wide variety of conformable plastic substrates and have long-term stability, low inter-transistor crosstalk, and high-density integration capacity, allowing fabrication of efficient integrated circuits.

"Organic electronics are not known for their high performance
and reliability," said the study's leader Dion Khodagholy, associate
professor of electrical engineering. "But with our new vGIT architecture,
we were able to incorporate a vertical channel that has its own
supply of ions. This self-sufficiency of ions made the transistor
to be particularly fast -- in fact, they are currently the fastest electrochemical transistors." To push the speed of operation even
further, the team used advanced nanofabrication techniques to miniaturize
and densify these transistors at submicro-meter scales. Fabrication took
place in the cleanroom of the Columbia Nano Initiative.

Collaborating with CUIMC clinicians To develop the architecture, the researchers first needed to understand the challenges involved with
diagnosis and treatment of patients with neurological disorders like
epilepsy, as well as the methodologies currently used. They worked with colleagues at the Department of Neurology at Columbia University Irving
Medical Center, in particular, with Jennifer Gelinas, assistant professor
of neurology, electrical and biomedical engineering and director of the Epilepsy and Cognition Lab.

The combination of high-speed, flexibility. and low-voltage operation
enables the transistors to not only be used for neural signal recording
but also for data transmission as well as powering the device, leading
to a fully conformable implant. The researchers used this feature to demonstrate fully soft and confirmable implants capable of recording
and transmitting high resolution neural activity from both outside,
on the surface of the brain, as well as inside, deep within the brain.

"This work will potentially open a wide range of translational
opportunities and make medical implants accessible to a large patient demographic who are traditionally not qualified for implantable devices
due to the complexity and high risks of such procedures," said Gelinas.

"It's amazing to think that our research and devices could help physicians
with better diagnostics and could have a positive impact on patients'
quality of life," added the study's lead author Claudia Cea, who recently completed her PhD and will be a postdoctoral fellow at MIT this fall.

Next steps The researchers plan next to join forces with neurosurgeons
at CUIMC to validate the capabilities of vIGT-based implants in operating rooms. The team expects to develop soft and safe implants that can detect
and identify various pathological brain waves caused by neurological
disorders.

* RELATED_TOPICS
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# Medical_Technology # Electronics # Graphene
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Story Source: Materials provided by Columbia_University_School_of_Engineering_and_Applied Science. Note:
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========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Claudia Cea, Zifang Zhao, Duncan J. Wisniewski, George
D. Spyropoulos,
Anastasios Polyravas, Jennifer N. Gelinas, Dion
Khodagholy. Integrated internal ion-gated organic electrochemical
transistors for stand-alone conformable bioelectronics. Nature
Materials, 2023; DOI: 10.1038/s41563- 023-01599-w ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230710180523.htm

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