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SUMMARY:Neuro-X Seminar: Monitoring Brain Chemistry via Translational Neur
 otechnologies
DTSTART:20230227T150000
DTEND:20230227T160000
DTSTAMP:20260916T194623Z
UID:d84589713b244d5f64f5dcf5bd8ad6a61cca5fe1bf82f5d348d9817a
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Dr Nako Nakatsuka\n\n\n\nRecent years have seen significant ad
 vances in innovative neurotechnologies to map the human brain. Devices for
  electrical and optical recordings and stimulation have reached unpreceden
 ted spatial resolutions and diverse cell types have been visualized at the
  molecular level. However\, there have been minimal advancements in contin
 uous biosensing to enable modulation of neural systems based on chemical f
 eedback. Neurotechnologies that can monitor chemical signaling in complex 
 biological systems are a necessity to expand our understanding of brain fu
 nction and dysfunction. Our work fills this technological gap by harnessin
 g aptamers\, or artificial DNA-based recognition elements\, which can be s
 ystematically designed to capture neurotransmitters such as dopamine and s
 erotonin with unprecedented sensitivity (femtomolar limit of detection) an
 d selectivity (e.g.\, differentiation of dopamine vs. norepinephrine). Upo
 n reversible neurotransmitter binding\, aptamers undergo a rearrangement o
 f their negatively charged backbone\, and these structural changes can be 
 transduced as measurable changes when interfaced with electronic platforms
 . Transducers ranging from the microscale (field-effect transistors) to th
 e nanoscale (nanopipettes with diameters ~10 nm) can be used to monitor re
 al-time flux of neurotransmitters from in vivo\, ex vivo\, and in vitro sy
 stems. Implantable field-effect transistor-based neuroprobes have been dep
 loyed for serotonin monitoring in awake mice. Nanopipette sensors\, compat
 ible with patch clamp setups\, have been translated to diverse systems to 
 track endogenous dopamine release in acute brain slices and to quantify ne
 urotransmitters released by human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived ne
 urons. Further\, we are combining neurochemical sensors with electrophysio
 logy to use an integrative approach to tackle the complexity of the brain.
  Translational neurochemical technologies that enable monitoring of neurot
 ransmitters both in clinical and point-of-care testing will provide feedba
 ck for existing treatments. For example\, monitoring blood dopamine may pe
 rsonalize drug dosing of the dopamine precursor\, levodopa for Parkinson
 ’s patients.\n\n\n
LOCATION:BM 5202 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==BM%205202 https://epfl.zoom.u
 s/j/61769338123?pwd=NnlpaHpqMVZ3ZTEvbW9vaUVla3JpUT09
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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