US 12,403,307 B2
Carbon fiber implantable probe
Cynthia Anne Chestek, Ann Arbor, MI (US); Elissa Joy Welle, Ann Arbor, MI (US); John Paul Seymour, Ann Arbor, MI (US); Lauren Leigh Zimmerman, Ann Arbor, MI (US); Zhonghua Ouyang, Ann Arbor, MI (US); Paras Rajni Patel, Ann Arbor, MI (US); Ahmad Jiman, Ann Arbor, MI (US); and Timothy Morris Bruns, Ann Arbor, MI (US)
Assigned to The Regents of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (US)
Appl. No. 17/254,786
Filed by The Regents of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (US)
PCT Filed Jun. 21, 2019, PCT No. PCT/US2019/038500
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Dec. 21, 2020,
PCT Pub. No. WO2019/246536, PCT Pub. Date Dec. 26, 2019.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/688,762, filed on Jun. 22, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2021/0268277 A1, Sep. 2, 2021
Int. Cl. A61N 1/36 (2006.01); A61N 1/05 (2006.01)
CPC A61N 1/36007 (2013.01) [A61N 1/0556 (2013.01); A61N 1/36062 (2017.08)] 22 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A carbon fiber implantable probe, comprising:
a flexible probe body;
a carbon fiber microarray comprising a plurality of carbon fiber electrodes at least partially embedded in the flexible probe body, wherein each carbon fiber electrode of the carbon fiber microarray has an implantation end and an attachment end, wherein the attachment end is fully embedded in the flexible probe body and the implantation end is fully exposed and separated from the flexible body, wherein, for each of at least some of the carbon fiber electrodes, the implantation end and attachment end are spaced by a distance equal to a longest length of the carbon fiber electrode, wherein a body interface site is formed where each carbon fiber electrode of the carbon fiber microarray exits the flexible probe body, and wherein the flexible probe body allows for relative movement between the carbon fiber microarray and an insertion end of the flexible probe body at each body interface site, wherein one or more carbon fiber electrodes of the plurality of carbon fiber electrodes are moveable with respect one or more other carbon fiber electrodes of the plurality of carbon fiber electrodes, wherein the carbon fiber microarray is configured to implant one or more of the carbon fiber electrodes between the insertion end and the flexible probe body into an implantation site, and wherein the flexible probe body is flexible at the insertion end where each carbon fiber electrode of the carbon fiber microarray exits the flexible probe body, wherein flexible is a material having a modulus of elasticity between 0.000005 GPa and 23 GPa; and
a signal conductor connected to the one or more carbon fiber electrodes of the carbon fiber microarray.