Mapping the brain-spinal cord interaction towards understanding and treatment of movement disorders

Projektinformationen

Move2Treat

ID Finanzhilfevereinbarung: 101130161

DOI

10.3030/101130161

EK-Unterschriftsdatum 18 Dezember 2023

Startdatum 1 Juli 2024

Enddatum 30 Juni 2027

Finanziert unter

• The European Innovation Council (EIC)

Gesamtkosten

€ 2 996 048,75

EU-Beitrag

€ 2 996 048,75

Koordiniert durch

DANMARKS TEKNISKE UNIVERSITET
Denmark

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Move2Treat (Mapping the brain-spinal cord interaction towards understanding and treatment of movement disorders)

Berichtszeitraum: 2024-07-01 bis 2025-06-30

Zusammenfassung vom Kontext und den Gesamtzielen des Projekts

Movement is one of the most important activities in our everyday life. It is an essential element for maintaining overall health and well-being, with more than 1 billion people globally suffering from a neurological disease that directly affects their movement. Each year, more than 1.5 million people experience a stroke in the EU alone leading to death, paralysis, or some kind of disability; this is a significant burden on healthcare systems with no cure. We must address the questions: How do we move? What is the underlying physical mechanism of the brain-spinal cord interaction that orchestrates the generation of movement? To be able to answer those, a high-performance bi-directional interface is required.
Move2Treat explores disruptive science by developing a new brain-spinal cord interface to investigate the associated neuronal circuits. In fact, Move2Treat has 3 distinct breakthroughs: (1) a novel theory on movement generation by rotating ensembles validation the neuronal population activity across central brain regions and the spinal cord. (2) A bi-directional soft-fiber platform as neural interface to brain and spinal cord in freely behaving species. (3) Validation of theory (1) and neural interface (2) in the disease models. The developed theory and implant enable the “next-generation pacemaker of the nervous system” based on the first complete, minimally invasive, wireless, biocompatible and soft multifunctional fiber-based neural interface to map the brain-spinal cord activity by simultaneous stimulation/recording in vivo and real-time with high spatial and temporal resolution. Move2Treat is a European approach to establish technological sovereignty, delivering the “next-generation precision sensing for neurological science”.

Arbeit, die ab Beginn des Projekts bis zum Ende des durch den Bericht erfassten Berichtszeitraums geleistet wurde, und die wichtigsten bis dahin erzielten Ergebnisse

The Move2Treat consortium has already the year 1 of the project successfully:
1. Identified the required optical material with the optimum characteristics to develop the optoelectronic fiber implant
2. Inscribed structures with fs pulses in bulk polymer materials defining the optimum parameters
3. Investigate the durability of different polymer fibers in acceleration aging
4. Finalize the design of a first tethered prototype of the neural interface packaging
5. Initiate experiments in the spinal cord of rodents using infrared neural stimulation.

Fortschritte, die über den aktuellen Stand der Technik hinausgehen und voraussichtliche potenzielle Auswirkungen (einschließlich der bis dato erzielten sozioökonomischen Auswirkungen und weiter gefassten gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen des Projekts)

- DTU has identified novel ultra-soft polymer materials for the development of ultra-flexible optical fibers. Further research is required
- DTU developed the first step-index polycarbonate optical fiber with loss <5 dB/m over specific spectral bands.
- Inscription of FBG in multimaterial optical fibers with integrated microfluidic channels and metal wires achieved for the first time - preliminary results.