Periodic Reporting for period 4 - e-NeuroPharma (Electronic Neuropharmacology)
Reporting period: 2024-03-01 to 2025-02-28
Diseases and disorders of the nervous system are major causes of human pain and suffering, and while analytical tools for early diagnosis of these diseases have been improving rapidly in recent years, new treatment strategies have been slower to emerge. The nervous system is complex and operates both through biochemical (neurotransmitter substances) and electronic (nerve impulses) signaling. Despite this duality, treatment of neurological disease states has been almost exclusively biochemical in nature. The reason for this is at least partly technological: traditional electronics consist of hard, rigid materials that interact poorly with the soft and flexible tissue of the nervous system. Implantation of electrodes into e.g. the brain first requires highly invasive surgery and then tends to produce an immune response leading to local inflammation and eventually encapsulation of the electrode, reducing its effectiveness.
In the e-NeuroPharma project, we aim to develop a novel materials platform that will allow for minimally invasive introduction of electrodes and devices into nervous tissue. We employ organic electronic materials, that better match the properties of biological systems: they are soft, flexible, and unlike traditional, inorganic electronics they can inherently translate ionic fluxes, such as the concentration of a salt, into electronic signals – just like the nervous system does. By incorporating these materials into injectable gels that spread within the target tissue and form a functional electrode shaped by the tissues they interact with, the project aims to form the starting point of novel treatment strategies for neurological disorders, addressing both their electronic and biochemical natures to reduce suffering and improve life quality for the many people affected by these diseases.
In the e-NeuroPharma project, we aim to develop a novel materials platform that will allow for minimally invasive introduction of electrodes and devices into nervous tissue. We employ organic electronic materials, that better match the properties of biological systems: they are soft, flexible, and unlike traditional, inorganic electronics they can inherently translate ionic fluxes, such as the concentration of a salt, into electronic signals – just like the nervous system does. By incorporating these materials into injectable gels that spread within the target tissue and form a functional electrode shaped by the tissues they interact with, the project aims to form the starting point of novel treatment strategies for neurological disorders, addressing both their electronic and biochemical natures to reduce suffering and improve life quality for the many people affected by these diseases.
The e-NeuroPharma project has developed and characterized a library of base materials that can be used to build conducting structures in vivo. Depending on the choice (or blend) of molecules from this library, the conducting polymer can for example be anchored to living cells, form within the available spaces in a tissue and following the naturally occurring presence of metabolites such as glucose or lactate, or patterned into specific shapes and forms with the aid of light.
Although this project has started from the ground up, building a completely new technological platform and naturally has had to focus a lot on basic characterization and method development, we have also already achieved some important milestones toward the “neuropharma” we envisioned: in 2023 we published a paper describing an injectible water-based gel that forms a functional electrode with no hard or rigid material present at all (Strakosas et al 2023, Science). In 2024, we applied the same concept to the hearts of zebrafish and showed that we can make a combined ECG electrode and pacemaker that disappears on its own over the course of a few days. While the technology will require further testing before being clinically useful, the results so far are highly promising and we remain hopeful that the minimally invasive bioelectronic medicine we envisioned at the start of the project is indeed within reach.
Although this project has started from the ground up, building a completely new technological platform and naturally has had to focus a lot on basic characterization and method development, we have also already achieved some important milestones toward the “neuropharma” we envisioned: in 2023 we published a paper describing an injectible water-based gel that forms a functional electrode with no hard or rigid material present at all (Strakosas et al 2023, Science). In 2024, we applied the same concept to the hearts of zebrafish and showed that we can make a combined ECG electrode and pacemaker that disappears on its own over the course of a few days. While the technology will require further testing before being clinically useful, the results so far are highly promising and we remain hopeful that the minimally invasive bioelectronic medicine we envisioned at the start of the project is indeed within reach.
The project has developed a novel technological platform that we hope will lead to new avenues for bioelectronic therapy for neurological ailments in the future. While the field of organic bioelectronics is not new, we have developed completely new strategies for forming organic electrodes within the living body with minimal damage caused and have shown that these electrodes can be used for therapeutic purposes. We have also furthered the development of bioelectronic devices than can be used in such applications, for example in the form of an artificial neuron – a device which mimicks the behavior of a neuron and can in the future be used to restore contact between a living neuron and a muscle after eg an injury.