Duke Institute for Brain Sciences

How we perceive and interact with the world depends on the structure and function of the synapses in our brain. Understanding the neural mechanisms of perception and behavior thus rests on measuring the synaptic activity associated with perceptual and behavioral functions. Existing intracellular recording methods are capable of resolving synaptic activity in anesthetized animals, but anesthesia necessarily interferes with perception and behavior. Moreover, the fragility and poor electrical properties of conventional intracellular electrodes render them poorly suited for measuring synaptic activity in the freely behaving animal as it actively engages with its environment. The overarching goal of our research is to develop a novel intracellular recording device using nanotechnology and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and to assess its suitability for in vivo intracellular recordings in the freely behaving animal. We work in collaboration with Dr. Rich Mooney (Neurobiology) and Dr. Gleb Finkelstein (Physics).

Ph.D., MIT, 1987

I. Borzenets, I. Yoon, M. Prior, B. R. Donald, R. Mooney, and G. Finkelstein. Ultra-sharp metal and nanotube-based probes for applications in scanning microscopy and neural recording. Journal of Applied Physics 2012; 111(7):74703-747036. doi: 10.1063/1.3702802.

B. R. Donald, C. Levey, C. McGray, I. Paprotny, and D. Rus. Planning and Control for Microassembly of Structures Composed of Stress-Engineered MEMS Microrobots. International Journal of Robotics Research 2012 (in Press).

I. Paprotny, C. Levey, and B. R. Donald. Turning-rate Selective Control: A New Method for Independent Control of Stress-engineered MEMS Microrobots. Proceedings of Robotics: Science and Systems Conference (RSS), University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia. July 9-13, 2012

Donald et al. Planar Microassembly by Parallel Actuation of MEMS Microrobots. Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems 2008; 17(4): 789-808.

Gorczynski MJ et al. Allosteric inhibition of the protein-protein interaction between the leukemia-associated proteins Runx1 and CBFbeta. Chem Biol. 2007 Oct;14(10):1186-97.

Georgiev I et al. Algorithm for backrub motions in protein design. Bioinformatics. 2008 Jul 1;24(13):i196-204.