Nicki’s paper on high-resolution neural electrodes based on MXene has been accepted for publication in ACS Nano. The paper describes the first example of neural interfaces from MXene, a 2D nanomaterial recently discovered by Prof. Gogotsi and his team at Drexel. Specifically, we show a novel microfabrication process to fabricate neural recording electrodes from MXene and we extensively characterize them in vitro and in vivo. Compared to conventional electrode materials, like metals, MXene neural electrodes have significant less impedance which translates in higher signal-to-noise ratio. Furthermore, they can detect neural spiking activity that is “invisible” on the higher impedance electrodes. In the paper, we also show that our MXene-based devices are flexible, that they can easily conform to the curved surface of the brain, and that are compatible to neuronal growth and proliferation in vitro.

Congratulations Nicki!

To read more: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.8b06014

Dr. Flavia Vitale has been awarded the McCabe Fellow Award on July 13, 2018.The McCabe awards were established in 1969 by a generous gift from Mr. Thomas B. McCabe and Mrs. Jeannette E. Laws McCabe to the Perelman School of Medicine (PSOM). The purpose of this gift is to support junior faculty who initiate fresh and innovative biomedical and surgical research projects.

For more information: http://www.med.upenn.edu/evdresearch/mccabefundawardprogram.html

Dr. Flavia Vitale has been appointed as Assistant Professor within the Department of Neurology and the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PMR) at The University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Nick Apollo is the newest addition to the CNT working alongside Drs. Flavia Vitale and Brian Litt after being awarded a trainee position in the Neuroengineering and Medicine T32 Training Grant. He is working to develop conformable biosensors capable of simultaneously monitoring neurotransmitter concentration and electrophysiological activity in real time. He will also investigate the use of 2D titanium carbide nanomaterials in neural interfacing and biosensing.

He has training in biomedical engineering (BSE ’11, University of Pittsburgh) and materials science (PhD ’17, University of Melbourne). Prior to beginning postdoctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania, he was working as a fabrication scientist at the University of Melbourne in Australia focused on building carbon-based medical devices. His research interests include carbon materials (graphene, diamond, and carbon nanotubes), brain-machine interfacing, medical device integration and packaging, and biosensing.

Bioengineering PhD student Brendan Murphy has been awarded a 2018 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Fellowship. The GRFP promotes vitality and diversity in the scientific and engineering workforce by recognizing and supporting outstanding graduate students who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees.

Nicolette Driscoll (Nicki) gave 2 talks in the fall of 2017.

She presented “Transparent graphene electrodes for chronic in vivo optical and electrophysiological recording” at the 2017 Biomedical Engineering Society Conference in Phoenix, October 2017 (featured in accompanying photo).

Nicki’s work on “2D Ti3C2 MXenes for high-resolution neural interfaces” was selected for oral presentation at the Symposium on Materials Design for Neural Interfaces, 2017 Materials Research Society Meeting in Boston, November 2017.

Nicki Driscoll has been awarded best oral presentation at Penn’s 2018 Bioengineering Graduate Research Symposium for her talk titled “2D Ti3C2 MXene for High-Resolution Neural Interfaces”. Congratulations Nicki!

Dr. Flavia Vitale has developed a new class of very small, flexible electrodes that can be independently controlled after they are implanted, allowing surgeons to safely map epileptic networks in the brain with high precision. With support from CURE, Dr. Vitale will build these new devices and test them in animal models of focal epilepsy, to detect and map seizure generation and spread. If successful, this exciting new technology could precisely localize seizure networks, and allow clinicians to focally ablate or suppress them with unprecedented accuracy, exactly where they are generated.

Bioengineering PhD student Nicki Driscoll has been awarded a 2017 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Fellowship. The GRFP Fellowship recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based Master’s and doctoral degrees.