A bimodal closed-loop neuromodulation implant integrated with ultraflexible probes to treat epilepsy.

Anti-seizure medications and deep brain stimulation are widely used therapies to treat seizures; however, both face limitations such as resistance and the unpredictable nature of seizures. Recent advancements, including responsive neural stimulation and on-demand drug release, have been developed to address these challenges. However, a gap remains, as electrical stimulation provides only transient effects while medication has a delayed onset.

Ultraflexible Neural Electrodes Enabled Synchronized Long-Term Dopamine Detection and Wideband Chronic Recording Deep in Brain.

Ultraflexible neural electrodes have shown superior stability compared with rigid electrodes in long-term recordings, owing to their low mechanical mismatch with brain tissue. It is desirable to detect neurotransmitters as well as electrophysiological signals for months in brain science. This work proposes a stable electronic interface that can simultaneously detect neural electrical activity and dopamine concentration deep in the brain.

Silk fibroin-based bioelectronic devices for high-sensitivity, stable, and prolonged in vivo recording.

Silk fibroin, recognized for its biocompatibility and modifiable properties, has significant potential in bioelectronics. Traditional silk bioelectronic devices, however, face rapid functional losses in aqueous or in vivo environments due to high water absorption of silk fibroin, which leads to expansion, structural damage, and conductive failure. In this study, we developed a novel approach by creating oriented crystallization (OC) silk fibroin through physical modification of the silk protein.

Gustatory interface for operative assessment and taste decoding in patients with tongue cancer.

Taste, a pivotal sense modality, plays a fundamental role in discerning flavors and evaluating the potential harm of food, thereby contributing to human survival, physical and mental health. Patients with tongue cancer may experience a loss of taste following extensive surgical resection with flap reconstruction. Here, we designed a gustatory interface that enables the non-invasive detection of tongue electrical activities for a comprehensive operative assessment.

Tissue/Organ Adaptable Bioelectronic Silk-Based Implants.

Implantable bioelectronic devices, designed for both monitoring and modulating living organisms, require functional and biological adaptability. Pure silk is innovatively employed, which is known for its excellent biocompatibility, to engineer water-triggered, geometrically reconfigurable membranes, on which functions can be integrated by Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS) techniques and specially functionalized silk. These devices can undergo programmed shape deformations within 10 min once triggered by water, and thus establishing stable bioelectronic interfaces with natively fitted geometries.

Direct Optical Patterning of Metal-Organic Frameworks via Photoacid-Induced Etching.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of porous materials constructed from organic linkers and inorganic building blocks. Coordinative competition labilizes some MOFs under harsh chemical conditions because of their weak bonding. However, instability is not always a negative property of a material.

Advanced nerve regeneration enabled by neural conformal electronic stimulators enhancing mitochondrial transport.

Addressing peripheral nerve defects remains a significant challenge in regenerative neurobiology. Autografts emerged as the gold-standard management, however, are hindered by limited availability and potential neuroma formation. Numerous recent studies report the potential of wireless electronic system for nerve defects repair.

Water-Responsive Self-Contractive Silk-Based Skin Anti-Aging Tensioners with Customizable Biofunctions.

Skin anti-aging treatments have become increasingly popular. Currently, the prevalent treatment method involves implanting skin tension regulation threads (skin lifting threads) under the skin, and radiofrequency treatments. In this study, inspired by the natural supercontraction of spider silk, the molecular structure of silk fibroin fibers is modulated into an oriented configuration.

Ultraflexible PEDOT:PSS/IrO-Modified Electrodes: Applications in Behavioral Modulation and Neural Signal Recording in Mice.

Recent advancements in neural probe technology have become pivotal in both neuroscience research and the clinical management of neurological disorders. State-of-the-art developments have led to the advent of multichannel, high-density bidirectional neural interfaces that are adept at both recording and modulating neuronal activity within the central nervous system. Despite this progress, extant bidirectional probes designed for simultaneous recording and stimulation are beset with limitations, including elicitation of inflammatory responses and insufficient charge injection capacity.

Through-polymer, via technology-enabled, flexible, lightweight, and integrated devices for implantable neural probes.

In implantable electrophysiological recording systems, the headstage typically comprises neural probes that interface with brain tissue and integrated circuit chips for signal processing. While advancements in MEMS and CMOS technology have significantly improved these components, their interconnection still relies on conventional printed circuit boards and sophisticated adapters. This conventional approach adds considerable weight and volume to the package, especially for high channel count systems.

Harmonizing Thickness and Permeability in Bone Tissue Engineering: A Novel Silk Fibroin Membrane Inspired by Spider Silk Dynamics.

Guided bone regeneration gathers significant interest in the realm of bone tissue engineering; however, the interplay between membrane thickness and permeability continues to pose a challenge that can be addressed by the water-collecting mechanism of spider silk, where water droplets efficiently move from smooth filaments to rough conical nodules. Inspired by the natural design of spider silk, an innovative silk fibroin membrane is developed featuring directional fluid transportation via harmoniously integrating a smooth, dense layer with a rough, loose layer; conical microchannels are engineered in the smooth and compact layer. Consequently, double-layered membranes with cone-shaped microporous passageways (CSMP-DSF membrane) are designed for in situ bone repair.

A mosquito mouthpart-like bionic neural probe.

Advancements in microscale electrode technology have revolutionized the field of neuroscience and clinical applications by offering high temporal and spatial resolution of recording and stimulation. Flexible neural probes, with their mechanical compliance to brain tissue, have been shown to be superior to rigid devices in terms of stability and longevity in chronic recordings. Shuttle devices are commonly used to assist flexible probe implantation; however, the protective membrane of the brain still makes penetration difficult.

Spatiotemporal Regulation of Injectable Heterogeneous Silk Gel Scaffolds for Accelerating Guided Vertebral Repair.

Osteoporotic vertebral fracture is jeopardizing the health of the aged population around the world, while the hypoxia microenvironment and oxidative damage of bone defect make it difficult to perform effective tissue regeneration. The balance of oxidative stress and the coupling of vessel and bone ingrowth are critical for bone regeneration. In this study, an injectable heterogeneous silk gel scaffold which can spatiotemporally and sustainedly release bone mesenchymal stem cell-derived small extracellular vesicles, HIF-1α pathway activator, and inhibitor is developed for bone repair and vertebral reinforcement.

A silk-based self-adaptive flexible opto-electro neural probe.

The combination of optogenetics and electrophysiological recording enables high-precision bidirectional interactions between neural interfaces and neural circuits, which provides a promising approach for the study of progressive neurophysiological phenomena. Opto-electrophysiological neural probes with sufficient flexibility and biocompatibility are desirable to match the low mechanical stiffness of brain tissue for chronic reliable performance. However, lack of rigidity poses challenges for the accurate implantation of flexible neural probes with less invasiveness.

A Hierarchically Encoded Data Storage Device with Controlled Transiency.

In the era of information explosion, high-security and high-capacity data storage technology attracts more and more attention. Physically transient electronics, a form of electronics that can physically disappear with precisely controlled degradation behaviors, paves the way for secure data storage. Herein, the authors report a silk-based hierarchically encoded data storage device (HEDSD) with controlled transiency.

A star-nose-like tactile-olfactory bionic sensing array for robust object recognition in non-visual environments.

Object recognition is among the basic survival skills of human beings and other animals. To date, artificial intelligence (AI) assisted high-performance object recognition is primarily visual-based, empowered by the rapid development of sensing and computational capabilities. Here, we report a tactile-olfactory sensing array, which was inspired by the natural sense-fusion system of star-nose mole, and can permit real-time acquisition of the local topography, stiffness, and odor of a variety of objects without visual input.

PDMS-Parylene Hybrid, Flexible Micro-ECoG Electrode Array for Spatiotemporal Mapping of Epileptic Electrophysiological Activity from Multicortical Brain Regions.

Epilepsy detection and focus location are urgent issues that need to be solved in epilepsy research. A cortex conformable and fine spatial accuracy electrocorticogram (ECoG) sensor array, especially for real-time detection of multicortical functional regions and delineating epileptic focus remains a challenge. Here, we fabricated a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-parylene hybrid, flexible micro-ECoG electrode array.

Robotic Manipulation under Harsh Conditions Using Self-Healing Silk-Based Iontronics.

Progress toward intelligent human-robotic interactions requires monitoring sensors that are mechanically flexible, facile to implement, and able to harness recognition capability under harsh environments. Conventional sensing methods have been divided for human-side collection or robot-side feedback and are not designed with these criteria in mind. However, the iontronic polymer is an example of a general method that operates properly on both human skin (commonly known as skin electronics or iontronics) and the machine/robotic surface.

Silk Microneedle Patch Capable of On-Demand Multidrug Delivery to the Brain for Glioblastoma Treatment.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and aggressive primary brain tumor. Surgery followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy remains the standard treatment strategy for GBM patients. However, challenges still exist when surgery is difficult or impossible to remove the tumor completely.

In Situ Regulation of Macrophage Polarization to Enhance Osseointegration Under Diabetic Conditions Using Injectable Silk/Sitagliptin Gel Scaffolds.

As a chronic inflammatory disease, diabetes mellitus creates a proinflammatory microenvironment around implants, resulting in a high rate of implant loosening or failure in osteological therapies. In this study, macroporous silk gel scaffolds are injected at the bone-implant interface for in situ release of sitagliptin that can regulate macrophage response to create a prohealing microenvironment in diabetes mellitus disease. Notably, it is discovered that sitagliptin induces macrophage polarization to the M2 phenotype and alleviates the impaired behaviors of osteoblasts on titanium (Ti) implants under diabetic conditions in a dose-dependent manner.

Biomimicking Antibacterial Opto-Electro Sensing Sutures Made of Regenerated Silk Proteins.

Surgical sutures play an important role across a wide range of medical treatments and a wide variety exist, differing in strength, size, composition, and performance. Recently, increasing interest has been paid to bioactive and electronic sutures made of synthetic polymers, owing to their ability to reduce inflammation as well as medically and/or electronically facilitate wound healing. However, integrating sensing capabilities into bioactive sutures without adversely affecting their mechanical strength, biocompatibility, and/or bioactivity remains challenging.

A rewritable optical storage medium of silk proteins using near-field nano-optics.

Nanoscale lithography and information storage in biocompatible materials offer possibilities for applications such as bioelectronics and degradable electronics for which traditional semiconductor fabrication techniques cannot be used. Silk fibroin, a natural protein renowned for its strength and biocompatibility, has been widely studied in this context. Here, we present the use of silk film as a biofunctional medium for nanolithography and data storage.