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Biomedical Device Innovation
Team goal
Develop implants to predict the onset of epileptic seizures so they can be prevented by sending electrical signals to the brain.
Faculty
Team Description
The human brain is a complex set of electrical circuitry. How the "wires" in our brains connect to make memories or "short circuit" to cause seizures is the focus of cutting-edge research by USTAR Professor John White. His research focuses on developing implants and high-speed electrical systems that can determine when a person is going to have a seizure. Utilizing advanced computer technology, the device would then send an electrical stimulation to the part of the brain required to prevent the seizure.
The team uses engineering approaches to understand how information is processed in the brain, with the goal of exploiting these findings to improve the human condition. Specific methods include computational modeling of neuronal networks; the design and construction of customized instrumentation that interacts with human subjects and biological preparations in real time at high clock speeds; and electrophysiological and optical techniques for recording detailed information from single neurons and large neuronal networks.
Ongoing and future research questions in the laboratory include the following:
(1) Why is coherent electrical activity of the cortex necessary for mental processes like learning and memory?
(2) What factors control this coherent activity, and how can such knowledge be applied to help patients with memory disorders and epilepsy?
(3) How can recent advances in computing technology be exploited to develop electronic devices that react to brain dysfunction in real time and react to restore normal function in neurological patients?
(4) How can the principles of brain function be adapted to build novel “smart” devices
USTAR recruited Dr. White to the University of Utah from Boston University, where he served on the faculty in Biomedical Engineering for 13 years. Dr. White has raised more than $20 million in grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and other sources. His research focuses on specific electrical activity in the brain as it relates to memory disorders. Dr. White's approach blends technology development, electrophysiology, computational modeling and imaging. Dr. White received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from John Hopkins University.