DescriptionNeural interface designs are diverse, including multiple cortical, deep brain, spinal, non-invasive, and PNS-based approaches to stimulation and recording. There are an estimated 1.7 million Americans living with limb loss, and many more suffering from PNS
injury without expected motor recovery, who may benefit from a neural interface that can help place a prosthetic actuator directly under neural control. Technologies exist capable of recording neural activity from both the PNS and CNS, but they face problems acquiring large enough numbers of independent and appropriately tuned neural signals to provide reliable dexterous control. This dissertation introduces a new neural interface design that uses myotubes cultured on a topographically modified MEA as a means of
extracting large numbers of independent neural signals pertaining to motor control from the PNS. To provide proof of principal for the basic science concepts underpinning this design, the following three aims are pursued and results are discussed: Aim 1 – To develop a bio-interface capable of modulating myotube behavior and guiding myotube formation and contractility to specific locations. Aim 2 – To integrate the bio-interface from Aim 1with a substrate-embedded MEA for
the purpose of recording myotube activity selectively from independent myotubes within a culture. Aim 3 – To integrate the interface designed in Aims 1 and 2 with neuronal culture, as the first step towards developing a structured co-culture system.