Myomatrix Arrays
Posted on April 2nd, 2025
Our microfabrication process yields flexible high-density electrode arrays (called Myomatrix arrays) with low impedance enabling researchers to record muscle activity with resolution as high as single motor units in freely behaving animals and from a range of species including mice, rats, songbirds, and non-human primates. The arrays come in a variety of configurations designed for use in acute and chronic recording paradigms.
Soft Multifunctional Neural Probes
Posted on November 29th, 2022
This is a toolset of multifunctional soft neural probes for simultaneous optical stimulation, optical recording, electrophysiological recording, pharmacological infusion and virus delivery. The neural probes are made of soft and stretchable hydrogel materials, which exhibit superior optical and mechanical properties. With the merit of improved material-tissue interfaces, this tool will allow for long-term neural modulation and recording through multiple modalities.
OpenScope
Posted on November 5th, 2021
OpenScope opens the Allen Brain Observatory pipeline to the community, enabling theoretical, computational, and experimental scientists to test sophisticated hypotheses on brain function in a process analogous to astronomical observatories that survey the night sky. Once a year OpenScope will accept experimental proposals from external scientists, which will be reviewed by a panel of leading experts for their feasibility and scientific merit. The Allen Institute will carry out the selected experiments following verified, reproducible, and open protocols for in vivo single- and multi-area two photon calcium imaging and Neuropixels electrophysiology, making the data freely available to these scientists and to the community. This will lower barriers to testing new hypotheses about brain function, bring new computational and theoretical talents into the field, and enhance the reproducibility of results in brain research, thereby accelerating progress toward an integrated understanding of neural activity in health and disease.
PIE Foundry
Posted on November 5th, 2021
The Polymer Implantable Electrode (PIE) Foundry is a service which provides access to polymer-based microelectrode arrays for neuroscientists, by providing training, testing, and custom-made devices. Polymer-based electrodes offer improved device lifetime compared with conventional silicon and microwire probes, but there are few commercial options. By adapting processes from semiconductor foundries, the PIE Foundry can produce made-to-order devices with a high-degree of uniformity and precision. PIE Foundry offers BRAIN community members tools and training so they can incorporate polymer-based probes and electrodes into their own research.
Gray Matter Research
Posted on August 13th, 2021
Gray Matter Research designs and manufactures large-scale microdrive systems to enable semi-chronic recording of neural activity from large numbers of independently moveable microelectrodes to record neural circuit activity in behaving non-human primates. Recent innovations include a larger number of electrodes and longer travel distances, flexibility to curve electrode trajectories, ability to register the electrodes to post-op scans and improved reliability. Our microdrive systems are used in over 50 laboratories worldwide. We also developed a prosthetic instrument expanding the scope and reliability of a new generation of microdrives using multi-channel laminar probes. This class of instrumentation is under development and in use in multiple laboratories. These tools provide unprecedented capabilties for reseachers to measure the activity in distributed neural circuits in behaving non-human primate performing cognitive tasks.
Carbon Fiber Electrode Array
Posted on October 26th, 2020
We have developed carbon fiber electrode arrays that can be optimized for either electrophsiology or the detection of dopamine. In addition, we have implemented tip sharpening techniques for better penetration into tissue such as nerves and ganglia. We wish to continue distributing these electrodes to existing collaborators and expand to new labs, with an overall emphasis on electrode customization per the user’s needs.
Michigan µLED Probes
Posted on October 26th, 2020
Our goal is to disseminate high-density micro-LED optoelectrodes for mapping circuits in the brain.
Magnetic Micro-coils
Posted on October 26th, 2020
We have developed micro-coil that can be implanted into the cortex and used to magnetically stimulate cortical neurons. Coils have two important advantages over conventional micro-electrodes. First, the magnetic fields they induce are less susceptible to changes in the surrounding environment, e.g. due to foreign body responses, and second, the fields they induce can be shaped to selectively target specific types of neurons.
Wireless Floating Microelectrode Array (WFMA)
Posted on October 26th, 2020
The Floating Microelectrode Array allows stimulation and recording from the CNS and the periphery through a wireless link. This device is 5mm diameter and can interface to 16 electrodes without any wires or tethers. Power and communication is through a magnetic wireless link. The WFMA is being used for a clinical trial of cortical visual prosthesis, but has also been used for peripheral nerve (cuff) interface. Currently it is being deployed for neuroscience research through a joint effort by MicroProbes for Life Science and Sigenics, Inc.
Polymer Electrode Array
Posted on October 26th, 2020
We have developed a modular recordings system with soft, flexible polymer electrodes that makes it possible to record from hundreds of neurons distributed across many brain areas, and to do so for many months. We are currently distributing these electrodes to ~20 other labs for testing, and their feedback will be used to further refine the devices. Our long term goal is to be able to disseminate these devices to the entire community.