Recording Electrical Responses to Pulses of Drugs Within the Brain

This project is a collaboration between Professor Graybiel at the McGovern Institute and Professor Cima in the MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Their goal is to make a device that combines a recording electrode with a precise drug-infusion system, allowing researchers to record electrical responses to pulses of drugs within the brain. Cima, an expert on the design of medical devices, will work with Graybiel to develop a fluid-handling system that will allow rapid and precise control of drug release from different reservoirs, and that can be implanted chronically into the brain. Graybiel hopes to use the resulting system to characterize different compartments within the striatum, a brain structure that is implicated in reward, motivation and substance abuse. In the longer term, the method should also be applicable to clinical drug delivery, by allowing rapid monitoring of a drug’s effect on the brain.