Enabling Technologies in CNS Repair

Recent advances in the field of electronics, miniaturisation and microfabrication and a deeper understanding of the interface between physics and living matter for sensing and neural stimulation allow us to develop new devices and instruments for monitoring or modulating the nervous tissue. This projects aims to take advantage of these advances in the electronics field, develop innovative medical devices that will respect the temporal dynamics of the disease and improve current static therapies (collaborations with Alar Ainla from INL and Ronalido Ichyiama, Leeds university). Namely, we aim to: 1) Understand the role of electric stimulation on processes such as neurite outgrowth, remyelination, glial cell activation and viability, underpinning some of the basic mechanisms associated; 2) Further reinforce the use of our previously developed in vitro stimulator device, as a new platform for testing the effects of electrical stimulation on different cells and tissues; 3) establish combinatory routes to deliver secretome and epidural stimulation and 4) Create novel implantable devices capable of combining electrical stimulation, tissue sensing and local drug delivery to treat the injured spinal cord (collaboration with Senentxu Lanceros-Mendez (BCMaterials – Bilbao, Spain).

Funding Agency

la Caixa Foundation

Project Reference

HR23-00484

Project Members

Main Project Outcomes

S. Queirós, “Right ventricular segmentation in multi-view cardiac MRI using a unified U-net model”, in E. Puyol Antón et al. (eds) Statistical Atlases and Computational Models of the Heart. Multi-Disease, Multi-View, and Multi-Center Right Ventricular Segmentation in Cardiac MRI Challenge. STACOM 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13131, pp. 287-295, Springer, Cham, 2022.

“Best Paper Award in the M&Ms-2 Challenge”, by M&Ms2 Challenge organizers and the Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention (MICCAI) Society.

Main Project Outcomes

T.S. Pinho, C.A. Cunha, S. Lanceros-Mendez, A.J. Salgado. “Electroactive Smart Materials for Neural Tissue Regeneration”. ACS Applied Biomaterials, (2021), 4(9): 6604-6618; 2) Patent “Dispositivo de Estimulação Elétrica Direta para Cultura de Células, Método e Aplicações do Mesmo, (2021), Pending Patent Number: PT 117 579

Utility Patent “Electric stimulator for cell culture, device, methods and uses thereof”, PT117579A