Optical Neural Interfaces, 2016
Publication: Maimon, B.E. et al. (2017) ‘Transdermal optogenetic peripheral nerve stimulation’, Journal of Neural Engineering
In this research within the MIT Media Lab Biomechatronics Group, we demonstrated transdermal optogenetic control of the peripheral nervous system. Optogenetics is a genetic engineering process which allows neurons to be controlled with light. By interfacing with the peripheral nervous system transdermally (i.e. across the skin, or non-invasively), diseases may be treated with greater precision than via biochemical drugs, and with greater safety than via implanted stimulators.
In order to achieve optogenetic control, animal tissue is injected with viruses bearing opsin plasmids. The viruses integrate their genetic material with tissue, which specifies where opsins should be expressed. With a high enough viral concentration, these opsins could be activated using laser light shone from outside the skin.
In this project I performed histological and in-vivo studies on mammalian nerves transfected with opsins. CellProfiler and MATLAB were utilized to perform data processing and analysis.
