Wireless optofluidic brain probes for chronic neuropharmacology and photostimulation

Rapidly Customizable, Scalable 3D‐Printed Wireless Optogenetic Probes for Versatile Applications in Neuroscience

“…This module allows researchers to optogenetically excite multiple 3D-POPs in the vicinity wirelessly (using a smartphone, Figure S7, Supporting Information), each with a unique stimulation frequency without any line-of-sight handicap, as was seen in several previous studies. [12,33] Mechanical Modeling and FEA: 3D finite element models were established to simulate the mechanical interaction between a neural probe and brain tissue in ABAQUS. The size of the brain tissue was 7 mm × 4 mm × 4 mm.…”

“…Optogenetics is a highly selective neuromodulation technique that enables cell-type specific manipulation of neural activity (e.g., silicon, [6][7][8] SU-8, [9] polyimide, [10,11] polyethylene terephthalate, [12,13] etc.) to build highly biocompatible implants, but also facilitates the direct integration of probes with micron-scale light sources and wireless control units.…”

“…Together these features enable opportunities for tether-free chronic optogenetics in awake, behaving animals. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] However, this approach requires expensive, bulky equipment and special cleanroom facilities, which make the overall manufacturing costly and limits accessibility to the technology for labs that do not have these equipment or skills. Moreover, modification of a design is time-consuming and arduous as it requires the need for design of new photomasks and/or development of new fabrication processes.…”

“…Recent advances in materials and microfabrication techniques have tried to overcome this issue by creating optical neural probes that are customizable in terms of size, dimensions, and functions for minimally invasive versatile operation. [ 5 ] This microfabrication‐based method not only allows the use of various materials (e.g., silicon, [ 6–8 ] SU‐8, [ 9 ] polyimide, [ 10,11 ] polyethylene terephthalate, [ 12,13 ] etc.) to build highly biocompatible implants, but also facilitates the direct integration of probes with micron‐scale light sources and wireless control units.…”

Advanced Electrical and Optical Microsystems for Biointerfacing

“…More recently, Qazi and coworkers developed battery‐powered, smartphone‐controlled optofluidic devices integrating refillable and disposable cartridges and Bluetooth wireless module that allows long‐range operations. [ 284 ] To further minimize the device dimensions and overcome limited operational lifetime associated with battery‐based operation, Noh et al reported a miniaturized battery‐free wireless soft optofluidic system that uses RF wireless energy‐harvesting techniques to support device operation. [ 285 ] The number of traces in the RF antenna can be increased to realize independent wireless control of fluid and light delivery.…”