{"id":17996,"date":"2023-01-24T14:53:28","date_gmt":"2023-01-24T19:53:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?p=17996"},"modified":"2023-02-01T09:25:19","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T14:25:19","slug":"tech-tools-caps-for-mini-brains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/tech-tools-caps-for-mini-brains\/","title":{"rendered":"Tech Tools: Tiny Caps for \u2018Mini Brains\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Black<\/a>It could be the world\u2019s tiniest EEG electrode cap, created to measure activity in a brain model the size of a pen dot. Its designers expect the device to lead to better understanding of neural disorders and how potentially dangerous chemicals affect the brain.<\/p>\n

This engineering feat, led by Johns Hopkins University<\/a> researchers and detailed in Science Advances, expands what researchers can accomplish with organoids, including mini brains\u2014the lab-grown balls of human cells that mimic some of a brain\u2019s structure and functionality.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis provides an important tool to understand the development and workings of the human brain,\u201d says David Gracias<\/a>, a chemical and biomolecular engineering<\/a> professor and one of the creators. \u201cCreating micro-instrumentation for mini organs is a challenge, but this invention is fundamental to new research.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inspired by the electrode-dotted skull caps used to detect brain tumors, the team created tiny EEG caps for brain organoids from self-folding polymer leaflets with conductive polymer-coated metal electrodes. The microcaps wrap around the entirety of an organoid\u2019s spherical shape, enabling 3D recording from the entire surface, so that, among other things, researchers can listen to the spontaneous electrical communication of neurons during drug tests.<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It could be the world\u2019s tiniest EEG electrode cap, created to measure activity in a brain model the size of a pen dot. Its designers expect the device to lead to better understanding of neural disorders and how potentially dangerous chemicals affect the brain. This engineering feat, led by Johns Hopkins University researchers and detailed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":18000,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-impact","issue-winter-2023"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTech Tools: Tiny Caps for \u2018Mini Brains\u2019 - JHU Engineering Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The world\u2019s tiniest EEG electrode cap could lead to better understanding of neural disorders.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/tech-tools-caps-for-mini-brains\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tech Tools: Tiny Caps for \u2018Mini Brains\u2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The world\u2019s tiniest EEG electrode cap could lead to better understanding of neural disorders.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/tech-tools-caps-for-mini-brains\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-24T19:53:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-01T14:25:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/magazine-gripper-social-card.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deboreah Ross\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Tech Tools: Tiny Caps for \u2018Mini Brains\u2019\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"The world\u2019s tiniest EEG electrode cap could lead to better understanding of neural disorders.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/magazine-gripper-social-card.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Deboreah Ross\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/tech-tools-caps-for-mini-brains\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/tech-tools-caps-for-mini-brains\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Deboreah Ross\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/37c999ce2d860a416eb52a3526c58ef6\"},\"headline\":\"Tech Tools: Tiny Caps for \u2018Mini Brains\u2019\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-24T19:53:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-01T14:25:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/tech-tools-caps-for-mini-brains\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":203,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/tech-tools-caps-for-mini-brains\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/Minibrain-in-Gripper_background-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Impact\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/tech-tools-caps-for-mini-brains\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/tech-tools-caps-for-mini-brains\\\/\",\"name\":\"Tech Tools: Tiny Caps for \u2018Mini Brains\u2019 - 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