CoolBrain

Wireless powered microsystem for thermal neurostimulation on medication resistant neurological and psychiatric disorders

This project, intending to be in line with the European framework on research and innovation, H2020, aims to contribute with innovative solutions to tackle health societal challenges, namely Medication resistant neurological and psychiatric disorders (RNPD).

RNPD are devastating multicausal chronic diseases that cannot be adequately controlled using conventional pharmaco and/or psychotherapies, being epilepsy a well-known RNPD. About 25 to 30 percent will continue to experience seizures, after the best available therapy [1, 2], even after surgical treatment [3]. Prolonged status epilepticus can damage the brain and may be life threatening [1]. Alternative therapies, such as neurostimulation (NS) or tailored resective surgery, must be implemented. Focal cooling of the brain using a thermoelectric device has been evaluated and proposed as an alternative to epilepsy surgery and RNPD [3].

State-of-the-art cooling neuro modulators in use range from very bulky, requiring water flows for neural cooling [4-8] or to cool down the hot side, to peltier elements still requiring water flows and/or wiring to connect the device to the power supply. Since such solutions does not allow for long term applications, a new device will be developed, featuring wireless power transfer, WPT, and based on microfabrication technologies, allowing smaller and fully implantable thermal neuromodulators.

Size reduction will be achieved through the integration of state of the art peltier elements, with RFCMOS electronics, and 3D antennas based on self-folding technology [9]. The use of RFCMOS was adopted to achieve low cost on chip fabrication, and to allow future integration of smart functions, like epileptic seizure prediction to allow the device to operate automatically.

1 - https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Current-Research/Focus-Research/Focus-Epilepsy

2 - Patel KS, et al. Efficacy of vagus nerve stimulation as a treatment for medically intractable epilepsy in brain tumor patients. A case-controlled study using the VNS therapy. Patient Outcome Registry Seizure. 2013;22(8):627–33.

3 - Fujii M, Fujioka H, Oku T, Tanaka N, Imoto H, Maruta Y, Nomura S, Kajiwara K, Saito T, Yamakawa T, Yamakawa T. Application of focal cerebral cooling for the treatment of intractable epilepsy. Neurologia medico-chirurgica. 2010;50(9):839–44.

4 - Cooke DF, Goldring AB, Baldwin MK, Recanzone GH, Chen A, Pan T, Simon SI, Krubitzer L. Reversible deactivation of higher-order posterior parietal areas. I. Alterations of receptive field characteristics in early stages of neocortical processing. J Neurophysiol. 2014;112:2529–2544.

5 - Fujii M, Inoue T, Nomura S, Maruta Y, He Y, Koizumi H, Shirao S, Owada Y, Kunitsugu I, Yamakawa T, Tokiwa T. Cooling of the epileptic focus suppresses seizures with minimal influence on neurologic functions. Epilepsia. 2012 Mar 1;53(3):485–93.

6 - Fujii M, Fujioka H, Oku T, Tanaka N, Imoto H, Maruta Y, Nomura S, Kajiwara K, Saito T, Yamakawa T, Yamakawa T, Suzuki M. Application of focal cerebral cooling for the treatment of intractable epilepsy. Neurol Med Chir (Tokyo) 2010;50:839–844

7 - Cooke DF, Goldring AB, Yamayoshi I, Tsourkas P, Recanzone GH, Tiriac A, Pan T, Simon SI, Krubitzer L. Fabrication of an inexpensive, implantable cooling device for reversible brain deactivation in animals ranging from rodents to primates. J Neurophysiol. 2012b;107:3543–3558.

8 - C. W. Chang et al., "Miniaturized cortex cooling device and system for hypothermia therapy application on freely moving rat," 2012 IEEE Sensors, Taipei, 2012, pp. 1-4

9 - S. Gomes, J. Fernandes, P. Anacleto, E. Gultepe, D. Gracias, P. M. Mendes, “Ultra-Small Energy Harvesting Microsystem for Biomedical Applications,” in 44th European Microwave Conference (EuMC), Rome, Italy, 5-10 October, 2014.

10 - P. Anacleto, E. Gultepe, S. Gomes, P. M. Mendes, and D. H. Gracias, “Self-folding microcube antennas for wireless power transfer in dispersive media,” TECHNOLOGY, vol. 04, no. 02, pp. 120–129, Jun. 2016.