Circuits and Systems for Real-Time Neurochemical Sensing and Activity-Dependent Intracortical Microstimulation

Associate Professor, Director, BioMicroSystems Laboratory, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Department, Biomedical Engineering Department, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
New enabling technologies for monitoring and manipulation of chemical and electrical neural activity in the brain can provide a holistic image of neural signal pathways. Such new capabilities could usher in a new realm of possibilities for studies at their most fundamental levels by probing neuronal communication at microscopic scales in real time, with applications in both basic neuroscience and medical research. This seminar will first provide an introduction to neural engineering and describe the fundamentals of brain monitoring in both electrical and chemical paradigms.
The talk will then showcase two state-of-the-art integrated systems developed using CMOS technology for brain interfacing. The first system concurrently senses extracellular levels of dopamine and neural spikes in a rat's brain with high spatial, temporal, and chemical resolution. The second system converts extracellular neural spikes recorded from one cortical region to electrical stimuli delivered to another cortical region in real time. This system is being used to evaluate the effect of activity-dependent intracortical microstimulation on functional recovery from traumatic brain injury. Our latest results from experiments with brain-injured rats will be presented.

Pedram Mohseni (S'94 "“ M'05 "“ SM'11) was born in 1974. He received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran in 1996 and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 1999 and 2005, respectively. He joined the faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) Department at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in August 2005 with a secondary appointment in the Biomedical Engineering Department starting in 2009. Dr. Mohseni was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor with the award of tenure in 2011.
His research interests include analog/mixed-signal/RF integrated circuits and microsystems for neural engineering; wireless sensing/actuating systems for brain-machine interfaces; biomedical microtelemetry; and assembly/packaging of biomicrosystems. He has authored numerous papers in refereed IEEE journals and conferences and has served as a technical reviewer for a number of the IEEE publications. Dr. Mohseni is a member of the IEEE Solid-State Circuits, Circuits & Systems, and Engineering in Medicine and Biology Societies. He is currently an Associate Editor for the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS-PART II and IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS. He is a recipient of the EECS Faculty Research Award for Exceptional Achievement in 2008, National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2009, and Case School of Engineering Research Award in 2011. Dr. Mohseni is a Senior Member of the IEEE.