ECE Seminar: Arto Nurmikko "Wireless Networks of Microsensors for the Nervous System."

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Abstract

We describe ongoing research in our labs for implantable sensors for future brain-computer applications. In this approach, sensors are autonomous grain-of-sand silicon microchips which are spatially distributed across the area of interest. Each chip, a fraction of millimeter in size, a “neurograin”, houses ultralow power microelectronic circuits which can either sense electrical signals from proximate neural cells or stimulate small groups of cells. Information from ensembles of neurograins is transmitted by RF techniques to an external transceiver by a protocol designed for bandwidth efficiency inspired the natural code of the brain, i.e. as a stream of asynchronous spikes. Conversely, command signals from the external source rely likewise on specific addresses encoded on each chip and determine the specific parameters for each chip for delivery space-time patterns of biphasic current stimulus into tissue. The entire network is powered by near-field inductive coupling using coil (antenna) designs. Proof-of-concept experiments have been conducted in vivo in small animals to record from and deliver patterned cortical stimulation to the brain cortex. 

Bio

Arto V. Nurmikko is a L. Herbert Ballou University Professor of Engineering and Physics at Brown. He received his degrees from University of California, Berkeley, with postdoctoral stays at MIT and Hebrew University. Professor Nurmikko conducts research in electrical engineering, semiconductor physics and brain sciences. His current interests include development of implantable brain communication interfaces, microscale neural circuit sensors, and optical imaging in turbid media. Professor Nurmikko is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the IEEE, and the Optical Society of America. He has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and co-recipient of the Israel Brain Price in 2013. He has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and to the Academy of Letters and Science of Finland, and has an honorary doctorate from Aalto University in Helsinki.