Abstract:

Recording and stimulation of neural circuits in-vivo at the cellular level are essential for us to understand the function of brain and establish a brain-computer interface. Recently, neural probes with multi-function stimulation and large-area coverage have been reported on right materials like silicon. However, when these rigid neural probes go into brain, it will inevitably damage parts of the brain during deep stimulation and long-term recording. In this talk, I will present a new flexible polymer neural probe, based on standard lithography process and 3D printing process. The probe equips with eight closely spaced 30 μm diameter PEDOT:PSS/pHEMA electrodes which can be driven by external gradient magnetic field and go into brain with 3D curvilinear path. The operating mechanism and the fabrication process will also be covered. This neural probe can minimize the risks of brain damage or glial scaring and have great potential for biomedical applications.