IMX Colloquium - Multimaterial Multifunctional Fibers for Biomedical Applications

Advanced human-machine interfaces have seen rapid growth in the past decades. Although the semiconductor industry has enabled electronic and optical devices with unprecedented sensing and modulation capabilities, the conventional devices based on rigid materials are not compatible with soft tissues. Therefore, flexible, biocompatible, and multi-functional devices and systems are highly demanded. My research focuses on addressing the key interface challenges between humans and the physical world using a multimaterial multifunctional fiber platform. Fabricated using a scalable thermal drawing method, these fibers are miniaturized, highly flexible, multifunctional, and biocompatible, making them ideal candidates for biomedical implant applications. In this talk, I will discuss the material considerations and applications of these fibers in neural interfacing, tumor research, and cardiovascular system. For example, we have overcome several material challenges in fiber-based neural interfaces, and enabled electrical, optical, microfluidic, photoacoustic, and chemical interrogation with neural circuits in vivo. We have also developed a 3D multifunctional interface for large volume deep brain stimulation and recording in mice. In addition, robotic fibers have been developed which can navigate through blood vessels for intracardiac EGM, pacing, and bioimpedance sensing. 

Bio: Xiaoting Jia is currently a professor in the ECE department at Virginia Tech, with affiliated positions in the School of Neuroscience and Materials Science and Engineering department at Virginia Tech. Before joining Virginia Tech, she was a postdoctoral associate in the Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT. She received her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from MIT (2011), M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Stony Brook University (2006), and B.S. in Materials Science from Fudan University in China (2004). She has published over 50 peer reviewed journal articles, including papers published in Science, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Neuroscience, and Nature Communications, with a total citation of over 18,000. She was a recipient of NSF CAREER award (2019), Faculty Fellow Award at Virginia Tech, COE Research Excellence Award at Virginia Tech, 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award, ICTAS Junior Faculty Award at Virginia Tech, and the Translational Fellow at MIT.