Contact Points
Primary Contract Specialist
Secondary Contracting Officer
Eugene, OR
The essential characteristics of the BEL - Brain Electrophysiology Lab that limit the availability to a sole source are proprietary engineering and software which has been patented. Only this suggested source can furnish the requirements, to the exclusion of other sources, because BEL - Brain Electrophysiology Lab is the sole distributor in the USA.
A patent, copyright, proprietary data, or licensing agreement limits competition. The proprietary data are described as EEG net acquisition software and hardware.
Future protocols currently onboarding, and sensitive to particular diagnoses will require the use of study-specific sensors that are compatible with these same sleep acquisition systems.This is a relatively new software product created by a single company for specific needs of EEG researchers. The software is not (currently) resold through suppliers and the tight integration of the company with their customer base allows for rapid improvements in the system.
- Statement of Need and Purpose: We intend to collect EEG data analyze this data and collect EEG data while using the transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) feature for neuroscientific research.
- Background Information and Objective:
The Sleep & Neurodevelopmental Core is focused on investigating neurophysiological sleep signatures that can separate developmental trajectories. Sleep is essential for the optimal functioning of all organ systems and its disruption is linked to numerous physical, neurological, and mental health conditions. Sleep is profoundly dysregulated in Neurodevelopmental Disorders (NDDs) including schizophrenia (SCZ), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and in serious mental illness including depression and bipolar disorder. Dysregulation is manifest in behavioral sleep phenomena, most often insomnia, but also in alterations in sleep-unique oscillatory signatures recorded via scalp EEG. The Sleep Core is invested in characterizing these signatures in behavioral disorders as part of a long- term strategy to develop Sleep Therapeutics. This request builds on the work the Core has already done to establish intra and extra IC relationships evaluating these signatures. The sleep spindle is a well-characterized sleep signature that has a frequency between 10-16Hz, is generated by the GABA-ergically innervated thalamic reticular nucleus and is synchronized/sustained by thalamo-cortical and cortico-thalamic loops within the thalamo-cortical network (TCN). Spindle activity (SA) is the best validated assay of the TCN, and SA is correlated with memory consolidation (MC) and working memory (WM) in neurotypical adolescents (Reynolds et al 2019) and adults (Fogel & Smith 2011). In recent years, noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques have been successfully deployed to improve memory performance in association to sleep quality, including spindle generation, in SCZ and healthy control populations. Automatic, real -time detection of the spindle rhythm is the first step in development of protocols designed to entrain spindle oscillations in cohorts determined to have spindle deficits (SCZ, ASD, MDD and Bipolar psychosis). Working with Pete Molfese, lead scientist at the NIMH Multimodal Imaging Core, we request funds to hire via contract, a coder to develop the algorithm for identification of the spindle rhythm during in-house evaluation of patient populations from Sleep Core, Rhythm, and Blues Protocol (Merikangas) and others. NIMH has already invested in the systems that would use the code (GTEN in the Multimodal imaging Core). Subsequent to identification, the GTEN can entrain oscillations via non-invasive stimulation (NIBS). Transcranial alternating current (tACS) is a type of NIBS. It is painless, inexpensive, and safe. The intervention applies weak electrical currents to the head to modulate central nervous system activity and specifically uses a sinusoidal current to entrain/modulate the target endogenous rhythm.
- Generic Name of Product: EEG NET + Hardware +Software
- Purchase Description: BEL – Brain Electrophysiology Lab Geodesic Head Web
- Salient characteristics: The essential characteristics of the BEL system is 2 types of EEG net applied on patients/participants, an acquisition system to collect EEG data and a software system to analyze the data.
Interested parties may identify in writing their interest and capability in response to this requirement. Responses to this notice shall contain sufficient information to establish the interested parties’ bona-fide capabilities for fulfilling the requirement and include: unit price, list price, shipping and handling costs, the delivery period after contract award, the prompt payment discount terms, the F.O.B. Point (Destination or Origin), the Dun & Bradstreet Number (DUNS), the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and the certification of business size. All offerors must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) www.sam.gov.
All responses must be received by closing date and must reference the announcement. Responses may be submitted electronically to the attention of the contract specialist. Fax responses will not be accepted.
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