Magnetic Nanodiscs Enable Remote Magnetomechanical Neural Stimulation

Danijela Gregurec, Alexander W Senko, Andrey Chuvilin, Pooja Reddy, Ashwin Sankararaman, Dekel Rosenfeld, Pohan Chiang, Francisco Garcia, Ian Tafel, Georgios Varnavides, Eugenia Ciocan, Polina Anikeeva
Jun 19, 2020
DOI
Magnetite nanodiscs decorating axons extending from a sensory neuronal structure dorsal root ganglion in vitro revealed by scanning electron microscopy. Switching from the vortex to in-plane magnetization state enabled the nanodiscs to transduce torques to the membranes of mechanosensitive neurons and, thus, to trigger their activity via remotely applied magnetic fields.
Danijela Gregurec
Assistant Professor at Friedrich Alexander University
Alexander W Senko
Data scientist at Livongo
Pooja Reddy
PhD student at Stanford MSE
Dekel Rosenfeld
Zuckerman Faculty Scholar, Tel Aviv University
Pohan Chiang
Assistant Professor at National Chiao Tung University
Francisco Garcia
PhD student at MIT BCS
Georgios Varnavides
Postdoctoral Fellow, UC Berkeley
Polina Anikeeva
Polina Anikeeva
Matoula S. Salapatas Professor and Head, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Professor, Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Director, K. Lisa Yang Brain-Body Center
Associate Investigator, McGovern Institute for Brain Research
Associate Director, Research Laboratory of Electronics

My goal is to combine the current knowledge of biology and nanoelectronics to develop materials and devices for minimally invasive treatments for neurological and neuromuscular diseases.