Location

MIT Media Lab, Bartos Theater

Description

To deliver light to the brain for neuroscientific and neuroengineering applications like optogenetics, in which light is used to activate or silence neurons expressing specific photosensitive proteins, optical fibers are commonly used. However, an optical fiber is limited to delivering light to a single target within the three-dimensional structure of the brain. We here describe the design and fabrication of an array of thin microwaveguides which terminate at a 3-dimensionally distributed set of points, appropriate for delivering light to targets distributed in a 3-dimensional pattern throughout the brain. Such devices will allow for the substrates that causally contribute to neurological and psychiatric disorders to be systematically analyzed via novel neural control tools. These innovations may also enable a new generation of optical neural control prosthetics, contributing directly to the treatment of intractable brain disorders.

Host/Chair: Edward Boyden

Participant(s)/Committee

Clifton G. Fonstad, Ramesh Raskar