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Wireless device stimulates nerves in mice
Engineers at Stanford University's Bio-X lab have developed a blue, glowing device the size of a peppercorn that can activate neurons in the brain, spinal cord or limbs of mice. This mouse's own body transmits energy to the implantable device, which delivers light to stimulate leg nerves.
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The miniature device combines optogenetics -- using light to control the activity of the brain -- with a newly developed technique to wirelessly power implanted devices and is the first fully internal method of delivering optogenetics.
Traditional optogenetics has required a fiberoptic cable to be attached to a mouse's head to deliver light and control nerves, restricting their movement in enclosed spaces or their ability to burrow into a pile of sleeping cage-mates. The new device dramatically expands the scope of research that can be carried out through optogenetics to include experiments involving mice in enclosed spaces or interacting freely with other animals.
To learn more, see the NSF News From the Field story Stanford engineers develop a wireless, implantable device to stimulate nerves in mice. (Date image taken: August 2014; date originally posted to NSF Multimedia Gallery: Nov. 24, 2015)
Credit: Austin Yee
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