# Advancing epilepsy diagnosis with flexible, high-resolution thin-film electrodes

> **NIH NIH UG3** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2022 · $1,838,946

## Abstract

Project Summary
To advance the development of next-generation personalized therapies for long-term seizure freedom, we
urgently need technologies that improve seizure diagnostics while reducing risks associated with invasive
neurosurgical procedures. Among the more than 1,000,000 Americans with uncontrolled focal epilepsy, many
have poorly localized seizure foci. These individuals face the highest rates of ‘failure’ (i.e., ongoing seizures)
after epilepsy surgery. That failure reflects the biology of their epilepsy as well as the overlap of seizure foci with
essential cortical areas. However, limits of current technologies also play a critical role in the high failure rate as
we are currently limited in our ability to sample wide regions of the neocortex (i.e., stereoEEG) or to record broad
neocortical regions without inducing pain, swelling, and neuroinflammatory tissue damage (i.e., subdural grid
and strip recordings).
To meet this need for safer, more effective invasive electrode studies and simultaneously enable discovery to
advance next-generation therapies, this UG3/UH3 clinical trial project leverages a successful, long-term
collaboration between clinicians, engineers, material scientists, neuroscientists and industrial partners at New
York University School of Medicine, New York University, Duke University, the University of Utah, Blackrock
Microsystems, and Dyconex to translate modern thin-film technology into next generation FDA-approved
implantable neurological devices. We have developed and extensively tested a novel electrode array based on
liquid crystal polymer thin-film (LCP-TF) technology with partner Dyconex, AG. When combined with large-scale
data acquisition systems, LCP-TF electrodes will provide higher quality neural recordings than existing FDA-
approved electrode arrays, with improved safely and at an affordable cost.
We propose to obtain traditional 510(k) approval from the FDA for short-term implantation (<30 days) of LCP-TF
electrodes to (1) improve surgical tolerability for patients with neocortical, focal, drug-resistant epilepsy
undergoing invasive electrode studies and (2) advance diagnostic capabilities to determine the location of
seizure foci. Our preliminary work in a non-human primate animal model led to a prototype device nearly identical
to the final device design planned for clinical testing. This work establishes supporting data for entry into
preclinical testing in the 3-year UG3 phase (Aims 1-3) that will lead to 510(k)-approved devices (Aim 4) for a
single-site, randomized-controlled pilot clinical trial in the 2-year UH3 phase (Aim 5) that will test the hypothesis
that performing epilepsy diagnostic studies with LCP-TF electrodes, compared to CG electrodes, improves both
surgical tolerability and diagnostic effectiveness. These efforts will advance the development of next-generation
precision approaches to treating epilepsy as well as support future development of LCP-TF electrodes for other
neurologica...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10297290
- **Project number:** 1UG3NS120172-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Robert Kyle Franklin
- **Activity code:** UG3 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $1,838,946
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-03-01 → 2025-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10297290

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10297290, Advancing epilepsy diagnosis with flexible, high-resolution thin-film electrodes (1UG3NS120172-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10297290. Licensed CC0.

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