Disabling disorders of the brain are the most impactful on health-care, economy and society, exceeding HIV, cancer and heart ischemia. Current therapeutic strategies are based on symptomatic treatments rather than aiming at curing the disease. Regenerative medicine is a promising branch of health science that aims at restoring brain function by rebuilding brain tissue. However, repairing the brain is one of the hardest challenges in health research and we are still unable to effectively rebuild brain matter.

Our mission is to foster the emergence of Enhanced Regenerative Medicine as the novel paradigm of the future that will shift the concept of biomedical interventions for brain disorders from treating to healing the diseased brain. To this aim, we propose an innovative solution based on biohybrid neuronics (neural electronics), in which bioengineered brain tissue, neuromorphic microelectronics and artificial intelligence establish a symbiotic integration to drive controlled brain regeneration. Specifically, the artificial components will empower the grafting of bioengineered brain tissue with functional enhancement, controlling the graft interaction, integration and adaptation within the host brain.

Enhanced Regenerative Medicine comprises the in vitro electrophysiology and tissue engineering units. It is equipped with a double microelectrode array set-up for advanced closed-loop in vitro electrophysiology and a field potential set-up for extracellular recording. We also use the IIT facilities for 3D neuronal cultures, brain tissue bioengineering (brain orgaoids), calcium imaging, microscopy, molecular biology and in vivo fMRI.

Nicola Tirelli, Polymers and Biomaterials, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia