BioE Senior BioE Senior Steele Lab (Mech E) Moritz Lab (Rehab Med & PBio) Overview ● A few examples Neural engineering: “using math and science to solve problems ● Ben’s research related to the nervous system” ● Claire’s research This approach is important for improving ● Opportunities at UW the ability of patients with sensory or motor impairments to interact with the world Credit Dr. Lise Johnson Scope of Neural Engineering Neural Engineering problems occur at multiple levels of organization - from the cellular level to the level of the organism These problems can be addressed from either within or outside of the system: ● Identify how to repair the solution ● Replace the system with a man made version ● Combination of repairing and replacing the system Deep-brain stimulation ● Often implanted for diseases characterized by abnormal muscle action (Parkinson’s, Essential Tremor, Dystonia) ● Little is known about the mechanisms by which it works ● Also being investigated for treatment of OCD, depression, and chronic pain Targeted Reinnervation Nerves from the missing limb are rearranged within the residual limb during surgery Separation between afferent and efferent nerves can occur Herbert et al. 2014 Neural control of robotic arms ● Electrode arrays implanted in the motor cortex of patient with spinocerebral degeneration ● Intent to move is decoded from firing rates of neurons Collinger et al. 2013 ● Used to control a robotic arm Neural control of robotic arm Collinger et al. 2013 Trans- cutaneous spinal stimulation Edgerton Lab, UCLA (2014) Optogenetic spinal cord stimulation ● Optogenetics may provide more effective spinal stimulation ● Genetically manipulate cells to express light-gated ion channels ● Spinal cord neurons become light-sensitive, use LED implant to stimulate in live animal model Optimizing optogenetic spinal stimulation After spinal ● Optogenetic stimulation cord injury caused damage to spinal cord in past study Damage ● Aim to improve biocompatibility of our stimulation methods ● Optogenetics may induce After spinal plasticity in spinal cord, cord injury + improving motor function optogenetic stim. Muscle Synergies Muscle Synergies are a theory from neuroscience describing how we coordinate muscles to produce movement ● Calculated by gathering electromyography (EMG) signals during walking ● These signals are decomposed into synergy outputs that reveal the complexity of the EMG patterns Muscle Synergies Muscle Synergies are a patient specific measurement that can indicate controls levels for patients post stroke or those with cerebral palsy ● Important to know how individual muscles affect synergy analysis ● Presentation of synergies is vital for clinicians to be able to make informed decisions Solution: Calculate the effects of the number and choice of EMG patterns in synergy analysis and build a graphical user interface to display synergy results in an easily understood way How to get involved at UW Synaptech: Interdisciplinary, events-based neural engineering club, no prior experience necessary First neural tech workshop: Thursday, November 9th, 3:30 PM at CSNE tinyurl.com/synaptech bpedigo@uw.edu clairem9@uw.edu SOME areas of investigation ● Tissue interfacing ● Decoding/encoding neural signals ● Cost and invasiveness ● Ethical concerns Hochberg et al 2012 Polikov et al. 2005