A researcher in the Michigan State University College of Engineering will use a $413,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to explore why devices implanted in the brain lose their efficacy over time.
Erin Purcell, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering, electrical and computer engineering, and neuroscience, has received a two-year grant to study the influence of neural implants on individual cells in the brain.
“Neural implants hold tremendous therapeutic potential for patients suffering from the devastating effects of neurological injury and disease,” Purcell said. “These devices are microelectrode arrays that can be used to deliver therapy for a variety of serious conditions, including hearing loss, Parkinson’s disease and spinal cord injury.”
She said the development of “electroceuticals” to treat neurological conditions has helped to advance research and clinical applications. Her research will explore the effects of implanted neuroprostheses on neurons.
To do that, she and Joseph Salatino, a Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering from Bloomfield Hills, Mich., will explore the impact of the device on the function of nearby neurons.
“Understanding the mode of action, and the failure mechanisms, of these devices remains incomplete,” Purcell said. “So we hope to improve understanding of the effects of neural implants on the function of neurons at the device interface.”
The NIH grant is one of the first awarded to MSU’s new Department of Biomedical Engineering. The department was approved at the state level in spring 2016 as a focal point at MSU for technological innovations applied to the medical needs identified by physicians, nurses and health scientists in hospital, clinic and home settings.