# Fabrication and testing of next generation cortical paddle leads for bidirectional neural interfaces

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2020 · $236,177

## Abstract

Invasive neurostimulation is a promising therapy for psychiatric disease, but with contemporary
neurostimulation techniques, many patients in recent clinical trials have been nonresponders. For improved
efficacy, invasive therapies in psychiatry may require a more advanced circuit-level understanding of these
disorders, so as to target specific patterns of abnormal neural activity. In support of this concept, short term
invasive recordings have revealed potential physiological biomarkers of specific psychiatric symptoms such as
depression and anxiety. Signal discovery and circuit analysis will be further facilitated by newly available,
chronically implantable, neural interfaces that can both deliver neurostimulation and wirelessly stream sensed
electrical activity to external computers. These devices – such as the responsive neurostimulaor (RNS,
Neuropace) or Summit RC+S (Medtronic) have great potential for longitudinal correlations of psychiatric
symptoms with neural activity. However, the permanently implantable cortical leads currently available to
attach to these interfaces pose technical barriers to easy, safe surgical placement and signal discovery.
Available cortical recording leads have a low channel count (4 contacts) low spatial resolution (1 cm), and are
mechanically inflexible, precluding access to many cortical areas. Here, we address this problem by
designing, fabricating, and testing cortical leads with mechanical properties favorable for the passage of leads
through minimally invasive exposures. Testing will involve both benchtop tests and short term intraoperative
human testing. Two lead designs will be fabricated and tested, one with lower channel count for multisite
cortical recording, another with double the currently available channel count (8 contacts) and improved spatial
resolution. These leads are designed to attach to Summit RC+S, under collaborative agreement with the
neural interface manufacturer. The PIs bring complementary expertise to this project: electrical engineering
with a specialty in brain lead fabrication; and neurosurgery/neurophysiology with a specialty in acute and
chronic cortical recording (electrocorticography) for detection of physiological signatures of brain disorders.
After this 2 year grant period, we expect to pursue biocompatibility testing and FDA approval for permanent
implantation, and commercialization. The proposed work will facilitate the deployment of newly available neural
interfaces, both for circuit analysis and for the development of “adaptive stimuluation”, in which neural signals
are used to autoregulate stimulation parameters, to respond to changing brain needs and reduce stimulation-
induced adverse effects.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10015352
- **Project number:** 5R21MH120810-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** Razi-ul Haque
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $236,177
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-10 → 2022-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10015352

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10015352, Fabrication and testing of next generation cortical paddle leads for bidirectional neural interfaces (5R21MH120810-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10015352. Licensed CC0.

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