Head of Research Group: Dr. Ágoston Csaba HORVÁTH
Members of the Group: Dr. Zsófia BALOGH-LANTOS, Bence CSERNYUS, Dr. Ágnes SZABÓ, Dr. Péter SERE, Ákos MÓROCZ
Contact: horvath.agoston.csaba@itk.ppke.hu
Our group utilizes recent advances in microengineering to create novel brain-machine interfaces at the microscale. The manufacturing and characterization of such miniaturized sensors and actuators, and their applications in vivo, require truly interdisciplinary approaches, including materials science, electronics technology, neurobiology, and informatics. One of the most challenging tasks is the development of microdevices implanted in neural tissue. Our research group is engaged in the design, implementation, and testing of microimplants that are able to record cellular communication with high spatial and tem-poral resolution and are also able to control cellular processes by means of optical and thermal stimulation. In the field of optical stimulation, our lab validates novel microdevic-es engineered to perform focal infrared stimulation in deep tissue. This technology is also leveraged to characterize the response of individual cells to infrared neuromodulation in living experimental animals.
More information about the research group
Our group combines expertise from neuroscience and engineering to create microscale devices to interrogate or stimulate brain cells. These interfaces are created using MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) technology, which enables the combination of electrophysiology with neuroimaging, optoelectronics, or microfluidics.
Future research directions, collaboration opportunities: development and testing of customizable multimodal neural implants, from design through the analysis of in vivo data.
Key publications
- Horváth, Á. Cs., Borbély, S., Mihók, F., Fürjes, P., Barthó, P., Fekete, Z. (2022) . Histological and electrophysiological evidence on the safe operation of a sharp-tip multimodal optrode during infrared neuromodulation of the rat cortex. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, 12: (1), 11434.
- Horváth, Á. C., Borbély, S., Boros, C. Ö., Komáromi, L., Koppa, P., Barthó, P., Fekete, Z. (2020). Infrared neural stimulation and inhibition using an implantable silicon photonic microdevice. MICROSYSTEMS & NANOENGINEERING, 6: (1), 44.
- Fekete, Z., Csernai, M., Kocsis, K., Horváth, Á. Cs., Pongrácz, A., Barthó, P. (2017). Simulta-neous in vivo recording of local brain temperature and electrophysiological signals with a novel neural probe. JOURNAL OF NEURAL ENGINEERING, 14: (3), 034001.
