Translating Novel Carbon Coating Towards Integrated Sub-second Neurotransmitter Sensors in Humans

Neurotransmitter sensing is important for both the fundamental understanding and clinical treatment of many diseases and conditions. However, currently, there are no FDA-cleared or -approved medical devices that can sense neurotransmitters within the living human brain. This application aims to fill this important gap by translating recent neurochemical sensor innovation through collaboration among academia (Dartmouth and VA Medical Center), neurosurgery (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center), and industry (NeuroOne). Recently, we discovered that mild annealing dramatically improved the electrochemical stability of electroplated carbon coating and transformed conventional microelectrodes into sensors similar to carbon fiber electrodes with excellent neuromodulator-sensing performance based on fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV). Based on this discovery, we created a prototype integrated probe that combines both electrical recording and FSCV capabilities and validated it in vivo in rodents, demonstrating parallel spike/local-field-potential -recording and sub-second dopamine sensing with synergistic multimodal results. In three parallel aims, we will develop designs to translate this novel technology to NeuroOne’s sEEG electrode, which is the first and only thin-film neural electrode FDA-cleared in clinics, with the goal of achieving the most efficient and effective translation towards first-in-human studies. Our long-term goal is to shift the current neurophysiological monitoring and recording paradigm from electrophysiology only to electrophysiology combined with chemical sensing by integrating interoperable neurotransmitter sensors. While we only focus on sEEG electrodes here for the sensor integration, we envision that the translational optimization of FSCV-stable carbon coating, the clinical- facing potentiostat and software design, and the regulator pathway developed are generalizable to standalone neurochemical sensors in humans or similar integrations on many emerging device platforms, such as thin-film DBS electrodes and intracortical arrays. Project Number: 1R18NS145979-01 | Fiscal Year: 2026 | NIH Institute/Center: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) | Principal Investigator: Hui Fang (+2 co-PIs) | Institution: DARTMOUTH COLLEGE, HANOVER, NH | Award Amount: $1,010,880 | Activity Code: R18 | Study Section: Special Emphasis Panel[ZRG1 NV-S (95)] View on NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11266318