Developing a novel computational platform to design graphene-based implants with superior MRI localization and visualization characteristics in using Electromagnetic (EM) simulation and experimental analyses

Project ID: 2228cd1440 (You will need this ID for your application)

UCL Lead department: Queen Square Institute of Neurology

Lead Supervisor: Louis Lemieux

Project Summary:

Currently available active brain implants contain metal, which can result in significant artifacts in MRI, making it difficult to visualize the surrounding brain tissue, particularly at high and ultra-high fields. This limitation can have important detrimental effects, such as uncertainty about the probes’ location in relation to the surgical target due obliteration of the tissue surrounding the probes. Additionally, metal-based electrodes within the MRI environment raise safety concerns due to radio-frequency field interactions. Newly developed graphene-based probes have several advantages over existing electrodes, including a much reduced amount of metal that can interfere with MRI; furthermore, our collaborators recently demonstrated a new type of electrode, called graphene-based (Graphene Solution-Gated Field-Effect Transistors, or gSGFET) probes, with unprecedented EEG recording capabilities. However, these new probes are invisible in MR images and require modification to enable their precise in situ localization and visualization in MRI. The objective of this project is to devise a new technology that will provide the tools necessary to integrate design features in graphene probes that enable their precise localization and visualization in images from high- and ultrahigh-field animal and human MRI scanners. Electromagnetic field computational simulations will be performed to investigate field distortions, and associated probe visualization characteristics, as a function of the position and orientation of implants; energy deposition and tissue heating will also be investigated. Based on these, advanced computational methods will be used to build models capable of online (or live) prediction of the EM fields for any probe implantation pattern in a specific individual. We will perform MRI experiments to validate the capabilities of the new probe design in terms of localization and visualization within the MRI environment, aiming for sub-millimetric accuracy. At the end of the project, we hope to have a system that is applicable to a wide range probes and applications.