Projects

High-density intracortical neural probes for extracellular potential recordings are powerful tools to investigate the complex communication among the overwhelming number of neurons in the brain. As the recordable extracellular action potentials decrease rapidly as a function of distance from their sources, the precise positioning of recording electrodes close to the neurons is a prerequisite to achieve a sufficient signal-to-noise ratio. The concept of electronic depth control (EDC) takes advantage of silicon probe shafts comprising an integrated switching matrix enabling recording site densities of 50 electrodes/mm along the probe shanks. The goal of the mEDC project is threefold: (i) improvement of the long-term recording capability of EDC probe arrays, (ii) expansion of probe functionality towards electrical stimulation, and (iii) probe applicability in mouse models. The systems will be tailored in close collaboration with BrainLinks-BrainTools PIs working on epilepsy and stroke models. The miniaturized EDC probes will build on silicon-based neural probe arrays with significantly smaller probe cross-sections. The entire probe systems will be designed to be compatible with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques.