In the 2000s, macro-sensors emerged as the 1st generation of wearable electronic sensors, for instance, sensors for monitoring health parameters in smartwatches. Thereafter, 2nd generation of biosensors as implantable ones came up in microscale with low power consumption and integrated circuits such as cardioMEMS. The new era of MEMS technology, specifically in healthcare, emerged as non-invasive biosensors with emerging capabilities of wirelessly- or self-powered electronics with predicted market growth of approximately 15% in the upcoming years.
Aim:
In ibrAIn center, we aim to cover different fields, including but not limited to the following ones:
· Brain-on-a-chip: to characterize brain functions in response to external signals e.g. ultrasonic signals (neuromodulation), optical signals (optogenetics), electrical signals, and drug delivery.
· Micro- & Nano-sensors: to be implanted and record neural signals.
· Bulk & Micro-machined Ultrasonic Transducers (BUT & MUT): to harvest energy from external or internal sources, and to stimulate different regions in the brain.
Developed Technologies:
So far, we have developed BUTs that are non-invasive MEMS-based, high spatial-resolution, ultrasonic transducers with the capability of focusing ultrasonic waves with a single-transducer in various locations for powering implants or neuromodulation at different locations in the brain. The first version of our BUT is called, MRUT, which included multi concentric rings on a single piezoelectric disk for focusing ultrasonic waves in various depth (on-axis) in the brain.
Multi-ring Ultrasonic Transducer (MRUT) for powering brain implants. MRUT is capable of focusing waves in different depths by driving each ring with our custom-designed PCB.
The second version of our BUT, so-called “SMRUT”, includes eight sectors on a single-piezoelectric plate where it has the capability of focusing ultrasonic waves in various axial and lateral locations in the brain for the purpose of powering.
On the other hand, we have also worked on MUTs since they are ideal options for micro-scale applications such as intracardiac echocardiography and neuromodulation of neural circuits with high accuracy for controlling the acoustic intensity. Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer (PMUT) and Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer (CMUT) are introduced as MUTs.
Within our center, we will develop low-power transducers’ drivers enabling portable platform for recording brain activities in rodents and primates.
