Transparent graphene implant for deep brain imaging and optogenetics

Notwithstanding the progress neuroscientists have made in understanding the microscale function of single neurons and the macroscale activity of the human brain – a comprehensive understanding of the brain still remains an elusive goal. Over the past several years, nanoscale analysis tools and in the design and synthesis of nanomaterials have generated optical, electrical, and chemical methods that can readily be adapted for use in neuroscience and brain activity mapping (read more: "Nanotechnology for neuroscience").

"Although advances in optical technologies such as multi-photon microscopy and optogenetics have revolutionized our ability to record and manipulate neuronal activity, integration of optical modalities with electrical recordings is challenging due to generation of light-induced artifacts," Duygu Kuzum, an Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, San Diego, tells Nanowerk.

In new work, scientists from the labs of Kuzum and Anna Devor report a transparent graphene microelectrode neural implant that eliminates light-induced artifacts to enable crosstalk-free integration of 2-photon microscopy, optogenetic stimulation, and cortical recordings in the same in vivo experiment. The new class of transparent brain implant is based on monolayer graphene. It offers a practical pathway to investigate neuronal activity over multiple spatial scales extending from single neurons to large neuronal populations.