Research Grants

Validation of high-precision in vivo drug delivery with integrated piezoelectric micropump in freely moving rodents (Group Linkage Program)

Objective: Testing of long-term reliability of ultraminiaturized piezopumps in chronic rodent mexperiments to remotely administer drug substances.
Principal investigator: Z. Fekete & A. Bussmann (Fraunhofer EMFT)
Members: R. Fiáth, P. Barthó
Funding organization: Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Germany)
Duration: 01/01/2023 – 31/12/2024

Intracortical infrared neuromodulation in freely behaving rodents: a stable, implantable platform for translational research, (Grant ID: NAP2022-I-8/2022)

Objective: Development of IR optrode technology to produce stable, long-term, layer-by-layer optical stimulation in the deep tissue of freely moving animal models
Principal investigator: Z. Fekete
Members: Á. Cs. Horváth, Á. Mórocz, Á. Szabó, Zs. Lantos
Domestic collaborators: P. Barthó, R. Fiáth, I. Ulbert (RCNS)
Funding organization: Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Duration: 01/09/2022 – 31/12/2026

Improving functionalities of microscale brain-machine interfaces using integrated upconverting nanoparticles (Grant ID: NKFIH FK 134403)

Objective: Incorporation of upconversion nanoparticles in implant material to equip microdevices with novel stimulation functionalities
Principal investigator: Z. Fekete
Members: A. Zátonyi, B. Csernyus, L. Vig
Domestic collaborators: P. Kele, M. Bojtár (RCNS)
International collaborators: W. Voit (UT Dallas, USA), L. Xiaogang (NUS, Singapore)
Duration: 01/12/2020 – 30/11/2024

Artificial Intelligence aided translational research on NeuroMEMS applications (Thematic Excellence Program of NRDI)

Objective: Application of implantable MEMS devices to suppress epileptic seizures
Principal investigators: I. Ulbert, Z. Fekete
Members: Á. Szabó, B. Csernyus, A. Zátonyi, Á. Horváth
International collaborators: P. Ruther (IMTEK)
Duration: 01/10/2020 – 09/30/2022

Application of softening polymers for micro-electrocorticography (bilateral grant of NRDI)

Objective: Development of novel SMP based implantable microdevices for high-density cortical electrophysiology
Principal investigator: Z. Fekete
Domestic collaborators: M. Madarász (Femtonics Ltd)
International collaborators: W. Voit (UT Dallas)
Duration: 30/09/2019 – 31/03/2021

Translational NeuroMEMS (Thematic Excellence Program of NRDI)

Objective: Application of implantable MEMS devices in preclinical and clinical settings
Principal investigators: I. Ulbert, Z. Fekete
International collaborators: P. Ruther (IMTEK)
Duration: 01/09/2019 – 30/06/2020

In vivo characterization of multimodal microdevices for infrared neural stimulation
(Grant ID: 2017_1.2.1-NKP-2017-00002)

Objective: Application of a novel multimodal implantable device for stimulating neural tissue with low- and high energy IR light
Principal investigator: Z. Fekete
Members: A. Zátonyi, Á. Cs. Horváth
Domestic collaborators: P. Barthó (RCNS, HAS), P. Koppa (BUTE)
International collaborators: M. Chernov (OHSU, USA), T. Horváth (Yale, USA)
Duration: 01/01/2018 – 31/12/2021

Investigation of novel implant materials for high-resolution, multiparametric imaging of cortical activity
(Grant ID: NKFI K 120143 )

Objective: Development of novel flexible, polymer-based ECoG implants and penetrating electrodes for multimodal brain imaging.
Principal investigator: Z. Fekete
Members: A. Pongrácz, A. Zátonyi, Á. Cs. Horváth, F. Fedor, Á, Szabó
Domestic collaborators: Zs. Borhegyi (ELTE), T. Lőrincz (Femtonics Ltd), Z. Somogyvári (Wigner RCP), Z. Kisvárday (Univ. Debrecen)
International collaborators: E. Procyk (INSERM, France), Zs. Lenkei (ESPCI Paristech, France), A. Joshi-Imre (UT Dallas, USA)
Duration: 01/12/2016 – 30/11/2020

Optical stimulation of hippocampal and deep brain regions using novel micro- and nanomachining approaches (Grant ID: KTIA NAP 13-2-2015-0004)

Objective: Design, fabrication and validation of novel microelectrodes for optogenetic and infrared neural stimulation in the hippocampus and deep-brain areas.
Principal investigator: Z. Fekete
Members: Á. Cs. Horváth, A. Zátonyi, Z Bérces, A. Pongrácz
Domestic collaborators: I. Ulbert (RCNS, HAS), P. Barthó (RCNS, HAS), L. Négyessy (Wigner RCP), Zs. Borhegyi (ELTE)
Duration: 01/03/2015 – 31/12/2017

Understanding the impact of nanostructuring to control neural cell – solid surface interactions at brain-machine interfaces (Grant ID: OTKA NN 116550)

Objective: Study on the effect of nanostructuring processes on the immune response of the brain tissue to implanted neural probes.
Principal investigator: A. Pongrácz
Members: Zs. Bérces, P. Fürjes, Z. Fekete
Domestic collaborators: E. Madarász (IEM, HAS), I. Ulbert (RCNS, HAS)
International collaborator: P. Ruther (IMTEK, Germany)
Duration: 01/11/2015 – 31/10/2018

Richter Témapályázat 2013 (Industrial Research Project granted by Gedeon Richter Plc)

Objective: Validation of silicon microelectrodes in fundamental pharmacological research on brain plasticity
Principal investigator: Z. Fekete
Members: M. Kiss, A. Pongracz
Domestic collaborator: G. Juhász (Proteomics Group, ELTE-HAS)
Duration: 01/09/2013 – 31/08/2015