Processes for design, construction and utilisation of arrays of light-emitting diodes and light-emitting diode-coupled optical fibres for multi-site brain light delivery

Optogenetics enables light to be used to control the activity of genetically targeted cells in the living brain. Optical fibres can be used to deliver light to deep targets, and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) can be spatially arranged to enable patterned light delivery. In combination, arrays of LED-c...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bernstein, Jacob G., Allen, Brian Douglas, Guerra, Alexander A., Boyden, Edward Stuart
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Engineering
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) 2016
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/103643
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9969-4281
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0419-3351
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8381-7555
Description
Summary:Optogenetics enables light to be used to control the activity of genetically targeted cells in the living brain. Optical fibres can be used to deliver light to deep targets, and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) can be spatially arranged to enable patterned light delivery. In combination, arrays of LED-coupled optical fibres can enable patterned light delivery to deep targets in the brain. Here the authors describe the process flow for making LED arrays and LED-coupled optical fibre arrays, explaining key optical, electrical, thermal and mechanical design principles to enable the manufacturing, assembly and testing of such multi-site targetable optical devices. They also explore accessory strategies such as surgical automation approaches as well as innovations to enable low-noise concurrent electrophysiology.