Brain Nanopump, 2017
The MIT Koch Institute Cima Lab, in partnership with the Langer and Graybiel Labs, has developed the injectrode, an implantable probe capable of simultaneous chemical and electrical neural interfacing. This device is intended to diagnose and treat neurological disorders with unprecedented spatial and temporal control.
In order to drive fluid for chemical interfacing, a pump is needed which can achieve nanoliter-precision flow, can perform bi-directional pumping, and can be chronically implanted. I worked to design, characterize, and miniaturize a novel peristaltic pump which utilizes shape-memory alloy wire actuators.
Through this research I prototyped models of the nanopump, designed characterization studies, and conducted optimization experiments.
