New modalities of neural interfacing
1. Combined electrical and optical (i.e. thermal) modulation of activity of neurons (without gene expression)
Our studies show how the use of focused infrared light can selectively block specific nerves in a nerve bundle. Selective stimulation/inhibition has important therapeutic applications for the design of neuroprosthetics. Functional electrical stimulation therapy stimulates the whole bundle of nerve fibres, whereas selective electro-optical stimulation would target only some specific organs or muscles from a central (proximal) access point.
2. Thermal Micro-Stimulation of Excitable Cells
Thermal Multi-Electrode Array platform for investigation of the thermal stimulation of excitable cells.
3. Toward Non-invasive Optical Neural Recording Without Molecular Reporters