Tissue-engineering for implantable bionics
Event details
| Date | 07.09.2018 |
| Hour | 11:30 › 12:30 |
| Speaker | Dr Rylie Green, Senior Lecturer, Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Abstract
Over the past 30 years implantable bionic devices such as cochlear implants and pacemakers, have used a small number of metal electrodes to restore sensory perception or muscle control to patients following disease or injury of excitable tissues. With the miniaturisation of electronic chips, bionic devices are now being developed to treat a wide variety of neural and muscular disorders. Of particular interest is the area of high resolution devices that require smaller, more densely packed electrodes. Due to poor integration with living tissue, conventional metallic electrodes cannot meet these small size requirements and are limited in their ability to safely deliver charge at therapeutic levels. A range of alternate electrode coating materials have been investigated by Dr Green including conductive hydrogels (CHs), conductive elastomers (CEs) and living electrodes (LEs) which provide synergy between low impedance charge transfer, reduced stiffness and an ability to be provide a biologically active interface. While these approaches have initially been used to modify existing implant electrodes (including cochlear implants and bionics eye arrays), these technologies also offer new opportunities for producing fully organic electrode arrays which are not bound to metallic substrates. This talk will outline materials development and characterisation of both in vitro properties and translational in vivo performance. The challenges for translation and commercial uptake of novel technologies will also be discussed.
Biography:
Dr Rylie Green joined the Bioengineering department at Imperial College London in 2016. She received her PhD (Biomedical Engineering) from the University of New South Wales, Australia in 2008. Dr Green’s research has been broadly focused on developing medical electrodes, with a specific focus on neuroprostheses. Her research is split into two related streams (i) biomaterials and tissue engineering; and (ii) bionics and device design. While Dr Green’s research has been focused on developing bioactive conducting polymers to improve performance of stimulating electrodes, she has also developed a range of techniques for characterising the in vitro performance of implantable microelectrodes in biologically relevant environments. Specifically, she has investigated electrode technologies for the developmental bionic eye device (with Bionic Vision Australia), and coatings for commercial implants (with Cochlear Ltd, Galvani Bioelectronics and Boston Scientific). More recently Dr Green has developed hybrids of conducting polymers and hydrogels to reduce strain mismatch with neural tissue and improve long-term cell interactions at the neural interface. This has led to her development of tissue engineered “living electrodes”, a new concept which will allow neural cells to synaptically interface with bionic devices.
Over the past 30 years implantable bionic devices such as cochlear implants and pacemakers, have used a small number of metal electrodes to restore sensory perception or muscle control to patients following disease or injury of excitable tissues. With the miniaturisation of electronic chips, bionic devices are now being developed to treat a wide variety of neural and muscular disorders. Of particular interest is the area of high resolution devices that require smaller, more densely packed electrodes. Due to poor integration with living tissue, conventional metallic electrodes cannot meet these small size requirements and are limited in their ability to safely deliver charge at therapeutic levels. A range of alternate electrode coating materials have been investigated by Dr Green including conductive hydrogels (CHs), conductive elastomers (CEs) and living electrodes (LEs) which provide synergy between low impedance charge transfer, reduced stiffness and an ability to be provide a biologically active interface. While these approaches have initially been used to modify existing implant electrodes (including cochlear implants and bionics eye arrays), these technologies also offer new opportunities for producing fully organic electrode arrays which are not bound to metallic substrates. This talk will outline materials development and characterisation of both in vitro properties and translational in vivo performance. The challenges for translation and commercial uptake of novel technologies will also be discussed.
Biography:
Dr Rylie Green joined the Bioengineering department at Imperial College London in 2016. She received her PhD (Biomedical Engineering) from the University of New South Wales, Australia in 2008. Dr Green’s research has been broadly focused on developing medical electrodes, with a specific focus on neuroprostheses. Her research is split into two related streams (i) biomaterials and tissue engineering; and (ii) bionics and device design. While Dr Green’s research has been focused on developing bioactive conducting polymers to improve performance of stimulating electrodes, she has also developed a range of techniques for characterising the in vitro performance of implantable microelectrodes in biologically relevant environments. Specifically, she has investigated electrode technologies for the developmental bionic eye device (with Bionic Vision Australia), and coatings for commercial implants (with Cochlear Ltd, Galvani Bioelectronics and Boston Scientific). More recently Dr Green has developed hybrids of conducting polymers and hydrogels to reduce strain mismatch with neural tissue and improve long-term cell interactions at the neural interface. This has led to her development of tissue engineered “living electrodes”, a new concept which will allow neural cells to synaptically interface with bionic devices.
Practical information
- General public
- Free
Organizer
- Medtronic Chair in Neuroengineering (lne.epfl.ch)
Contact
- Prof. Diego Ghezzi