Name

Jeremy Ford - [Pubs]

    Adviser

E. Duco Jansen

    Email

jeremy.b.ford@vanderbilt.edu

    CV

    Areas of Research

Infrared Neural Inhibition

    Project Summary

Using infrared lasers we can inhibit the propagation of neural signals by inducing a temperature rise. We hypothesize that this can be used to alleviate chronic pain. The goal of this work is to optimize light application to neural tissue and decrease the maximum temperature required for therapy. Specifiically, my project seeks to assess, in silico, the neural response to infrared neural inhibition with different block lengths, build and test irradiation methodologies which apply spatially and temporally variable temperature rises to nerves, and investigate the role of block length during inhibition across different neural populations.  Aplysia nerves are robust and long, optimal for investigating how spatial variations in light application affects inhibition. Whole nerve recordings monitoring signals across neural populations will assess how the temperature at inhibition threshold changes as a function of axon length heated.

Collaborators:

Hillel Chiel, Case Western Reserve University

Michael Jenkins, Case Western Reserve University