Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100922
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Diamond cybernetics: nanocrystalline diamond for interfacing bionic devices with the human nervous system. Bionic devices will soon be used to treat disorders such as epilepsy, Parkinson's and depression. We will use diamond to create high resolution, permanent electrical connections between devices and the human nervous system. These diamond connections will preserve nerve health and make bionic devices more effective and able to last a lifetime.
Conformal Bionics - addressing the challenges in bringing miniaturised implants to the site of therapeutic delivery. Smaller, more sophisticated, lifetime-implantable bionic devices capable of being placed at the site of therapeutic delivery will facilitate new or improved opportunities for treatment of disease. Three critical areas of research aim to be explored in pursuit of this goal will be addressed within this study: introduction of new fabrication materials that enable devices to conform ....Conformal Bionics - addressing the challenges in bringing miniaturised implants to the site of therapeutic delivery. Smaller, more sophisticated, lifetime-implantable bionic devices capable of being placed at the site of therapeutic delivery will facilitate new or improved opportunities for treatment of disease. Three critical areas of research aim to be explored in pursuit of this goal will be addressed within this study: introduction of new fabrication materials that enable devices to conform to the anatomy of the targeted site of therapeutic delivery; improved means of addressing the data and energy transfer needs of devices implanted in confined spaces; and innovation of novel sensors for testing and monitoring of atmospheric conditions within the implant to anticipate and safely manage issues relating to a breach of hermetic encapsulation barriers.Read moreRead less
Ultra-low fouling active surfaces. This project aims to develop chemistries and fabrication approaches through innovative materials evaluation to develop ultra-low fouling active electrode surfaces. Development of ultra-low fouling surfaces will have significant impact in a range of applications where system or device failure is attributed to fouling. The growing field of bionics, where implantable electronic devices interface directly with the nervous system, is one such device. The expected ou ....Ultra-low fouling active surfaces. This project aims to develop chemistries and fabrication approaches through innovative materials evaluation to develop ultra-low fouling active electrode surfaces. Development of ultra-low fouling surfaces will have significant impact in a range of applications where system or device failure is attributed to fouling. The growing field of bionics, where implantable electronic devices interface directly with the nervous system, is one such device. The expected outcomes will be an understanding of the material requirements that lead to the elimination of protein and cell accumulation at surfaces that degrades the performance and lifetime of these implants. The findings will benefit any application where fouling is a problem.Read moreRead less
Advanced computational algorithms for brain imaging studies of freely moving animals. Current brain imaging technology requires the animal to be unconscious. This project will remove this barrier by developing computational algorithms that measure brain function in freely moving animals. These technologies will provide brain scientists with new tools to study behaviour altering diseases, such as schizophrenia and depression.
Novel computational tools for the analysis of sympathetic nervous system activity. This project will investigate electrical signals from the heart, resulting in novel tools for the assessment of sympathetic nervous system activity. The findings will contribute to advancing Australia's international leading position in health technology and improve community health.
Modelling of neural plasticity for enhanced performance of brain-machine interfaces. Plasticity of the brain is one of the great scientific challenges of neuroscience. The aim of this project is to model the synaptic changes that occur with reward-modulated spike-timing-dependent plasticity and apply the model to developing plasticity targeted brain-machine interfaces. The significance of this approach is that such plasticity targeted techniques provide the prospect of taking advantage of the un ....Modelling of neural plasticity for enhanced performance of brain-machine interfaces. Plasticity of the brain is one of the great scientific challenges of neuroscience. The aim of this project is to model the synaptic changes that occur with reward-modulated spike-timing-dependent plasticity and apply the model to developing plasticity targeted brain-machine interfaces. The significance of this approach is that such plasticity targeted techniques provide the prospect of taking advantage of the underlying neural plasticity to optimise the form of the neural recording and electrical stimulation. The outcomes will be to greatly improve the performance of brain-machine interface in terms of measures such as the number and sensitivity of channels, as well as robustness and reliability.Read moreRead less
Platform technology to decode motor control through ultra high-field MRI. This project aims to advance our understanding of the poorly understood neural circuits that enable fine motor control in humans. To obtain this knowledge, new platform technology will be developed to capture the full kinematics of the hand during concurrent functional magnetic resonance imaging at ultra high-field. This device will allow testing of fundamental theories describing the canonical microcircuits involved in ha ....Platform technology to decode motor control through ultra high-field MRI. This project aims to advance our understanding of the poorly understood neural circuits that enable fine motor control in humans. To obtain this knowledge, new platform technology will be developed to capture the full kinematics of the hand during concurrent functional magnetic resonance imaging at ultra high-field. This device will allow testing of fundamental theories describing the canonical microcircuits involved in hand motion. Expected outcomes include new evidence of mirror neurons and observation of predictive error signals in the motor cortex. This new knowledge paves the way towards improved computer-brain interface technology which is likely to create benefits through translation to applications such as artificial limb control.Read moreRead less
Motion-adaptive PET technology for brain imaging of freely moving mice. This project aims to develop new brain imaging technology that adapts to and corrects for the motion of a responsive, freely moving mouse. Current technology requires the subject to be unconscious, precluding the use of imaging to study signalling pathways activated by external stimuli during cognitive and behavioural tasks. By harnessing new radiation detector, motion tracking and computational technologies, the project exp ....Motion-adaptive PET technology for brain imaging of freely moving mice. This project aims to develop new brain imaging technology that adapts to and corrects for the motion of a responsive, freely moving mouse. Current technology requires the subject to be unconscious, precluding the use of imaging to study signalling pathways activated by external stimuli during cognitive and behavioural tasks. By harnessing new radiation detector, motion tracking and computational technologies, the project expects to bridge this technology gap and provide significant technical and conceptual advances in the field. This will provide important benefits, such as equipping neuroscientists with new tools to answer fundamental questions about how the mammalian brain regulates behavioural adaptation to a changing environment.Read moreRead less
Next generation positron imaging technologies for contemporaneous measurements of brain function and behaviour in freely moving mice. The mouse brain is an important target for Post Emission Tomography (PET) imaging studies that aim to elucidate the role of specific molecular pathways in determining normal and aberrant brain function. However, current imaging technology requires the animal to be unconscious which precludes the study of pathways involved in cognition, learning and behaviour. To o ....Next generation positron imaging technologies for contemporaneous measurements of brain function and behaviour in freely moving mice. The mouse brain is an important target for Post Emission Tomography (PET) imaging studies that aim to elucidate the role of specific molecular pathways in determining normal and aberrant brain function. However, current imaging technology requires the animal to be unconscious which precludes the study of pathways involved in cognition, learning and behaviour. To overcome this major limitation this project will: investigate tomograph designs capable of continuously imaging a moving animal; develop a PET detector with sub-millimetre spatial resolution and depth-of-interaction capability; and, develop a fully integrated motion tracking system. This research will lead to next generation PET technologies for contemporaneous brain imaging and behavioural analysis in freely moving mice.Read moreRead less
Broad spectrum nanomedicine for Meningitis treatment. Brain inflammatory diseases are among the top ten infectious causes of death. The project aims to provide Australian doctors with a superior alternative of treating infections that do not respond to conventional antibiotics. The nanomedicine developed will reduce the burden of hospital and boost Australia economy in the biomedical sector.