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Rational design of silicon structures for optically controlled multiscale biointerfaces

Nature Biomedical Engineering volume 2, pages 508–521 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

Silicon-based materials have been widely used in biological applications. However, remotely controlled and interconnect-free silicon configurations have been rarely explored, because of limited fundamental understanding of the complex physicochemical processes that occur at interfaces between silicon and biological materials. Here, we describe rational design principles, guided by biology, for establishing intracellular, intercellular and extracellular silicon-based interfaces, where the silicon and the biological targets have matched properties. We focused on light-induced processes at these interfaces, and developed a set of matrices to quantify and differentiate the capacitive, Faradaic and thermal outputs from about 30 different silicon materials in saline. We show that these interfaces are useful for the light-controlled non-genetic modulation of intracellular calcium dynamics, of cytoskeletal structures and transport, of cellular excitability, of neurotransmitter release from brain slices and of brain activity in vivo.

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Fig. 1: Si structures for multiscale biointerfaces.
Fig. 2: Photoresponses of Si materials.
Fig. 3: Summary of individual photoresponses from 16 selected Si structures.
Fig. 4: Si nanowire-enabled intracellular stimulation interfaces.
Fig. 5: Flexible and distributed silicon mesh for optically controlled extracellular neuromodulation.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR FA9550-14-1-0175, FA9550-15-1-0285), the National Science Foundation (NSF CAREER, DMR-1254637; NSF MRSEC, DMR 1420709), the Searle Scholars Foundation and the National Institutes of Health (NIH NS101488, and NS061963). This work made use of the Japan Electron Optics Laboratory (JEOL) JEM-ARM200CF and JEOL JEM-3010 TEM in the Electron Microscopy Service of the Research Resources Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). The acquisition of the UIC JEOL JEM-ARM200CF was supported by a MRI-R2 grant from the National Science Foundation (DMR-0959470). The animal imaging work conducted at the Integrated Small Animal Imaging Research Resource (iSAIRR) at the University of Chicago was supported in part by funding provided by the Virginia and D. K. Ludwig Fund for Cancer Research via the Imaging Research Institute in the Biological Sciences Division, by the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center including an NIH grant P30 CA14599, and by the Department of Radiology. Part of the schematic in Fig. 5c was generated from a three-dimensional anatomy software purchased from https://biosphera.org. The authors thank L. Yu, V. Sharapov, S. Patel, Y. Chen, Q. Guo and J. Jureller for providing technical support.

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Yuanwen Jiang, Xiaojian Li, Bing Liu.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Yuanwen Jiang, Jaeseok Yi, Kelliann Koehler, Vishnu Nair, Yin Fang, George Freyermuth & Bozhi Tian

  2. The James Franck Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Yuanwen Jiang, Jaeseok Yi, Yin Fang, Xiang Gao, Kelliann Koehler, Vishnu Nair & Bozhi Tian

  3. Department of Physiology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA

    Xiaojian Li, KuangHua Guo & Gordon M. G. Shepherd

  4. Department of Neurobiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Bing Liu

  5. The Research Resources Center, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Fengyuan Shi & Alan W. Nicholls

  6. Department of Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Edward Sudzilovsky

  7. The Graduate Program in Biophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Ramya Parameswaran

  8. Ben May Department for Cancer Research, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Jiping Yue & Xiaoyang Wu

  9. Department of Radiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Hsiu-Ming Tsai, Chien-Min Kao & Chin-Tu Chen

  10. University Research Facility in Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience (UBSN), Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    Raymond C. S. Wong

  11. The Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, Chicago, IL, USA

    Bozhi Tian

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Contributions

Y.J. and B.T. conceived the idea and designed the experiments. Y.J. fabricated the materials/devices with assistance from J. Yi, Y.F. (affiliation 2) and R.C.S.W.; X.L., B.L. and K.G. performed the brain slice and in vivo studies; X.L. and B.L. built the instrument and developed the software for in vivo neurophysiology experiments and analyses. Y.J., X.G., E.S., R.P., J. Yue, G.F. and X.W. performed the cell studies; Y.J., J. Yi, F.S., K.K., V.N., Y.F. (affiliation 1), H.-M.T., C.-M.K., C.-T.C. and A.W.N. performed the materials and biointerfaces characterizations; Y.J. developed the photoresponse analysis matrix and performed the COMSOL simulation; Y.J., X.L., B.L. and B.T. wrote the paper, and received comments and edits from all authors; B.T. and G.M.G.S. mentored the research.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bozhi Tian.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary figures, tables, video captions and references.

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Supplementary Video 1

Left forelimb movement triggered by the photostimulation of a Si mesh (~4 mW for 50 ms).

Supplementary Video 2

Left forelimb movement triggered by the photostimulation of a Si mesh (~5 mW for 50 ms).

Supplementary Video 3

Right forelimb movement triggered by the photostimulation of a Si mesh (~5 mW for 50 ms).

Supplementary Video 4

Right forelimb movement triggered by the photostimulation of a Si mesh (~5 mW for 100 ms).

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Jiang, Y., Li, X., Liu, B. et al. Rational design of silicon structures for optically controlled multiscale biointerfaces. Nat Biomed Eng 2, 508–521 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-018-0230-1

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