High density full diamond cortical implant for long life time implantation

Project Information

NEURODIAM

Grant agreement ID: 758700

DOI

10.3030/758700

Project closed

EC signature date 30 April 2018

Start date 1 May 2018

End date 30 April 2024

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 1 499 865,00

EU contribution

€ 1 499 865,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITE GUSTAVE EIFFEL
France

Periodic Reporting for period 4 - NEURODIAM (High density full diamond cortical implant for long life time implantation)

Reporting period: 2022-11-01 to 2024-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

NEURODIAM projet
What if diamond could restore sight to the blind and enable paraplegics to walk again?
While this idea may seem like something straight out of science fiction, it highlights the challenges that neuroscience is attempting to address.
Dysfunctions of the central nervous system represent a major challenge for our society. Due to the aging population, they affect a growing number of people and can have various causes: traumatic (accidents, strokes), psychological (autism, depression), neurodegenerative (Parkinson's, Alzheimer's), or tumorous (glioblastomas, neuromas).
Today, neuro prostheses and brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are very promising technologies for restoring these functions. These devices use implants equipped with microelectrodes, placed on or in the brain, to record or stimulate brain activity and thus restore motor function or vision.

However, this technology faces several limitations. Inserting an implant into the brain can trigger an immune response in the tissue, compromising communication with neurons. In addition to biological failures, material failures can occur, including degradation of the metal part of the electrode in contact with the cells. Finally, the implant may suffer mechanical failures, such as delamination or polymer swelling, as it is often composed of layers of varying rigidity.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

To overcome these limitations, the NEURODIAM project proposes to develop an implant based on diamond, an exceptionally strong and biocompatible material. Diamond can be synthesized at low cost using microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition (MWPCVD).
This process requires only methane and hydrogen, as well as an energy source. It is possible to produce non-conductive diamond for the implant packaging and doped diamond for the conductive parts, such as the electrodes. This process is compatible with micro- and nanotechnologies, allowing the diamond thin layers to be structured to design an implant made entirely of this material.
As part of this project, the research team developed such implants and tested them on an animal model at the level of the visual cortex. The results showed that this technology is perfectly transferable to future brain-computer interface (BCI) systems. In addition, accelerated aging tests demonstrated that the diamond implant maintains its stability for more than 18 years, outperforming conventional materials.
This study ultimately proved the superiority of diamond over conventional implant solutions.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The goal of this project is to breakthrough the limit of neuronal implants (no stable implant for chronic application) and we propose a new route to fabricate long term stable implants for functional rehabilitation (ex cortical implant).
To do this we propose to use diamond material. Diamond is a very attractive for bio applications : no native oxide, chemical inert and concerning doped dimond high electrochemical window.

We fabricated strips to test stability of diamond structure and at the end of this period we started the fabrication our first full diamond implants.

At the end of the project we will propose a soft full diamond implant with a long term stability for chronic neuronal implant.

This technology devlop in this project will have to several applications for neuroncal diseases. We will be able to develop a specific cortical implants for blind or tetraplagic patients to help these patient to recover vison or autonomous. We will be able to imagine another applicatons with this technology to provide medical devices for cardiac or muscular applications.

To discover more on the project, you can see this short video on youtube:
https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYRHffdmknU or NEURODIAM projet

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