Speaker: Danny Lam
Advisors: Dr. Andrew Shoffstall and Jeffrey Capadona
Title: Injectable and Bioabsorbable Peripheral Neural Interfaces for Minimally Invasive Neuromodulation.
Abstract: Aligned with the guiding principle of ‘keep it simple,’ our lab is developing and evaluating injectable and bioabsorbable peripheral nerve interfaces (PNIs) for minimally invasive neuromodulation.
The Injectrode (Neuronoff Inc.) is an injectable helical wire structure that was designed to simplify surgical procedures for placing and removing implantable neurostimulator leads. We assessed the chronic performance and function of these implanted leads in a rat sciatic nerve model as demonstrated in evoked electromyography recordings, evoked motor thresholds and device-tissue impedances. Preliminary histology at 12-weeks showed expected fibrosis around our implanted leads and ingrowth within the coiled structure.
Our lab has also developed a bioabsorbable electrode platform designed to be fully degraded by the body. The electrodes were fabricated using simple sputter-coating methods that yielded 100 nm gold coatings on an absorbable suture substrate. The proposed suture-based electrodes were electrically functional for up to 4-weeks in benchtop “accelerated aging” studies and up to 2-weeks in vivo under minimal strain (implanted subcutaneously in the back). However, implants failed after only a few days when placed on the sciatic nerve which undergoes frequent strain.