Research at CLEAN

Conventional bioelectronic devices are fabricated outside the body and then connected to tissue by implantation or other means. Living electronics takes a different approach: the electronic material grows in situ inside the living body and merges naturally with the nervous system. A reaction catalysed by endogenous heme proteins in the blood forms a conducting n-PBDF polymer network directly in living tissue, fusing material and tissue together. Combined with near-infrared light stimulation, the material’s photothermal response provides millisecond-scale, reversible suppression of neural excitability in mice, without rigid implants or genetic modification. The goal is long-term, precise, bidirectional integration with and modulation of the living nervous system. This direction is the focus of the center’s first stage, which aims to reveal the relationships between material formation, electron and ion transport, tissue-interface properties and biological response.

A conventional photodetector can “see” light, but it cannot do what a biological synapse does: let light directly change the strength of a synaptic connection and form a memory. We established a light-ion-electron coupling mechanism that uses light to regulate electrochemical doping, achieving multi-level, non-volatile programming of the electronic state of organic materials. The result is organic optoelectronic synapses that combine perception, processing and memory. Light no longer only generates a current; it directly programs the ionic-electronic state of the material. Building on this, CLEAN will investigate whether a verifiable mechanistic link exists between the dynamic response of artificial materials and the plasticity of biological neurons, testing each hypothesis step by step through electrophysiology, optical imaging and behavioural experiments.

The nervous system changes dynamically and adapts continuously; stimulation or intervention with fixed parameters cannot fully capture changes in a complex neural state. The goal of adaptive neuroelectronics is, on the basis of reliable signal acquisition and mechanistic understanding, to connect neural activity monitoring, state recognition, modulation strategy and feedback validation into a research system that can adjust its intervention to the physiological state. Drawing on the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine and its medical research platforms, we are building a chain of evidence from the mechanism of material action and changes in cell function to effects on neural circuits and behaviour, together with procedures for evaluating biocompatibility, tissue response, long-term stability and the effect of neural intervention. Initial research focuses on scenarios with measurable electrophysiological markers, such as epilepsy-related abnormal neural activity; the feasibility of extending it to Parkinson’s disease and other models of neural dysfunction is then evaluated step by step, according to the earlier mechanistic research and the capabilities of the platforms. Functional improvement in disease models is a research goal to be verified by experiment; its clinical efficacy is not presumed.

A neuromorphic intelligent sensing system brings sensing, computing and storage together in one organic device, aiming at low power and high efficiency. Building on mixed ionic-electronic conductors and optoelectronic functional materials, we build hemispherical retinas and brain-inspired vision systems and explore their potential in neuromorphic sensing, intelligent sensing, and related information processing, toward applications such as brain-machine interfaces and brain-inspired vision. At CLEAN this is an extension of the center’s materials and device research capabilities, not a core task of the initial neuromodulation program.