| Project Detail |
Advancing brain disease diagnosis Brain diseases are one of the biggest health challenges in the world today. Understanding how neural disorders arise requires deeper insights into electrical activity, molecular changes and chemical signalling in the brain. Current tools have advanced knowledge but cannot fully capture the complex nature of neural dynamics. They also rely on external markers, limiting their use in medical applications. In this context, the ERC-funded NEUROLIDAR project is tackling these issues with a groundbreaking, label-free method. Using light-matter interactions and advanced optical probes, the project aims to monitor brain activity at both local and global levels. This innovative approach could revolutionise neuroscience, offering new ways to diagnose and treat brain diseases. The growing societal burden of brain diseases is one of the most significant health challenges globally. To help diagnose or treat these pathologies, there is widespread agreement that a deeper understanding is needed on the origin of neural disorders linked to electrical neural activity, neuromodulators dynamics and molecular alterations. To this aim, the combination of optical methods with genetically expressed molecular probes has enabled great advances in understanding brain mechanisms. However, the existing tools fail in capturing a comprehensive picture of multifaceted neural dynamics. In addition, the translational applications of these technique are hindered by the need for exogenous reporters. As a result, there is a major scientific and technological gap that obstructs the full exploitation of cutting edge neuro technologies to relieve the impact of brain diseases in the human population. To bridge this gap, this project proposes an innovative approach to monitor neural dynamics in the mammalian brain using label free light matter interactions without exogenous reporters. To do this, I will develop a radically novel strategy harnessing the temporal and spectral dynamics of light stimuli interacting with the brain through photonic neural interfaces enhanced by integrated optical nano modulators. This approach will surpass the limitations of existing techniques in monitoring the physical complexity of neural signals. I will aim at three main objectives: O1) developing label free molecular sensing in arbitrary deep brain regions O2) developing label free, multifunctional, ultrathin, all-optical probes for dissecting the local micro-circuitry O3) developing label free, large-scale all-optical systems for multifunctional recordings at the global brain scale. |
