We are on the cover of Journal of Pain (again!)

The Journal of Pain selects our state-of-the-art models of brain current flow for the Feb 2012 cover

This issue features our article 

A Pilot Study of the Tolerability and Effects of High-Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (HD-tDCS) on Pain Perception.

Borckardt JJ, Bikson M, Frohman H, Reeves ST, Datta A, Bansal V, Madan A, Barth K, George MS

This week (Friday 01/27/2012), for our second Neural Engineering Journal Club, Mattia will lead the discussion on this paper:

Shu Y, Hasenstaub A, Duque A, Yu Y, McCormick DA., Modulation of
intracortical synaptic potentials by presynaptic somatic membrane potential.,
Nature. 2006 Jun 8;441(7094):761-5.

We are starting next week a weekly journal club. The meetings will be
held every Friday at 10am in the conference room on 5th floor,
Steinman Hall. You can find the calendar on the right side of this page.
Next week (Friday 01/20/2012) Joao will lead the discussion on this paper:

Nieuwenhuis S, Forstmann BU, Wagenmakers EJ., Erroneous analyses of inter-
actions in neuroscience: a problem of significance., Nat Neurosci. 2011 Aug
26;14(9):1105-7.

Neural Engineering Faculty Citations via Google Scholar (~1000 citations in 2011)

Marom Bikson

Lucas Parra

Simon Kelly 

2011 City College of New York, Department of Biomedical Engineering Holidal Party

Asif Rahman, Andy Huang, Justin Rice, Jacek Dmochowski, Joao Dias, Paul DeGuzman

Prof. Marom Bikson speak at SUNY Downstate Medical on HD-tDCS  Dec 14, 2011 noon

"Deployable and targeted neuromodulation with High-Definition transcranial Direct Current Stimulation."

"Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) over the last decade has emerged as a promising non-invasive therapy for producing lasting functional changes in CNS. It is low cost, uses weak currents, easy to use, and can be combined with either cognitive training or rehabilitative therapy. However, conventional approaches using two large-pads stimulate broad regions of the cortex with limited spatial precision. We developed a novel platform: High-Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (HD-tDCS) which uses an array of multiple small scalp electrodes allowing focal and targeted neuromodulation. To determine optimal stimulation array configurations based on application specific constraints (surface/depth focality), a user targeting software was developed.  Specialized scalp electrodes/adapters and head-gear was engineered to allow painless delivery of current to targeted regions, under a wide range of deployed environments. Multicenter Phase -1 trials have established safety/ tolerability.  HD-tDCS leads to focal activation of the cortex similar to Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) but is better tolerated. Clinical trials for accelerated learning, chronic pain (fibromyalgia), migraine, and stroke rehabilitation are currently ongoing. HD-tDCS thus allows non-invasive, safe, individualized, targeted and thus more effective modulation of selected cortical and deep brain structures."

NEURAL ENGINEERING HOLIDAY DINNER

Tuesday December 13th, 7pm
Havana Central at The West End
2911 Broadway New York, NY 10025
Cross Street: Between 113th and 114th Streets
(212) 662-8830

Congrats Justin Rice winner:

ANNUAL European PhD Award

on Embedded, Networked or Distributed Control

The EECI PhD Award (1000 EUR) is given annually in recognition of the best PhD thesis in Europe in the field of Embedded, Networked or Distributed Control 

This upcoming Monday Nov 28th at 6-7 PM in Steinman T-401 (BME Conference Room) there will be a special Neural Engineering group talk (combined with the Neural Engineering class)

Angel Peterchev, PhD

Assistant Professor; Director, Brain Stimulation Engineering Lab, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, Duke University

Dr. Peterchev will speak on "Introduction to Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation technology."

First clinical study on High-Definition tDCS published in Journal of Pain

A Pilot Study of the Tolerability and Effects of High-Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (HD-tDCS) on Pain Perception.

Prof. Marom Bikson to speak at Harvard Medical School "Clinical, Assessments, and Intervention Updates in Neurorehabilitation" 

PDF Brochure and Registration Information

"TECHNOLOGY & NEUROREHABILITATION

The purpose of this course is to introduce and update participants to the rapid advances occurring in the !eld of neurorehabilitation. Advances in investigating brain function (such as neuroimaging, quantitative EEG and transcranial magnetic stimulation) have revealed that functional improvements following rehabilitative training signi!cantly alters the structural and functional organization of the brain. Uncovering the physiological basis of these changes as well as how to enhance plasticity with adjunctive therapies such as motor training, virtual reality, robotics, and noninvasive brain stimulation are critical to further develop advanced therapeutic strategies and improve recovery of function. Offered by: Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Dept of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation."

University of Pennsylvania

The Neuro-Cognitive Rehabilitation Research Network

initiates High-Definition tDCS studies.  Our Neural Engineering teams visits for on-site training and new modeling work..

In photo: Shiraz Macuff, Abhi Datta, Preet Minhas.

Prof, Marom Bikson in a discussion with the Manhattan Adult Attention Deficit Disorder Support Group

when:    Thursday  /  November 3, 2011  /  6:30pm to 9pm                         
             6:15 -- doors open
             6:30 -- announcements
             6:45 -- presentation + group discussion

topic:      FROM TECHNOLOGY TO TREATMENT: WHAT CAN WE DO TO EXPEDITE PROGRESS?

where:   West End Collegiate Church
             245 West 77th Street
             near West End Avenue

Prof.Bikson to present at the Photo-Electro-Magnetic Biostimulation of Performance and Protection meeting, at Tri-Serivce Research Laboratory, Fort Sam Houston on  “Deployable and targeted neuromodulation with High-Definition transcranial Direct Current Stimulation.” Nov 1-2, 2011

NYC Emerging Technologies Summit is a showcase for life sciences technologies developed at 10 New York City universities and research institutions. The event features short presentations of more than 20 innovations from researchers at academic and clinical labs who are driving today’s most promising, investor-ready innovations.  The bioscience technologies range from therapeutics to medical devices and are available for commercialization through licensing agreements or creation of new companies. Key attendees will include angel investors and venture capitalists as well as business development, licensing and senior executives from biotech, pharmaceutical and biomedical companies.

Prof. Marom Bikson will be among the presenters.

Friday, October 28, 2011

2:00-5:00 p.m. presentations in Uris Auditorium

5:00-7:00 p.m. cocktail reception and networking at Griffis Faculty Club

Weill Cornell Medical College, 1300 York Ave, New York, NY 10065

Transcranial Electric Stimulation Symposium

The Neural Engineering Group will present at a mini symposium that brings together researchers from City College of the City University of New York and Rutgers University, Newark to discuss recent findings in the field of transcranial electric stimulation.

Date: Monday, October 24th, 2011

Time: 1pm - 6pm

Room: Aidekman Seminar Room (first floor)
Rutgers University Aidekman Research Center
Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience
197 University Avenue Newark, NJ 07102

For more information, please contact Bart Krekelberg: bart@rutgers.edu, or 973 353 3602

Program Talks are 20 minutes, with ten minutes for discussion.

1:00-1:30 – Kohitij Kar – Retinal and cortical effects of transcranial electrical stimulation.

1:30-2:00 – David Reato – Oscillatory electrical stimulation modulates coherence and homeostatic downscaling of human slow wave activity

2:00-2:30 – Jacek Dmochowski – Optimized multi-electrode stimulation increases focality and intensity at target

--- Coffee Break ---

3:00-3:30 – Belen Lafon – Modulation of homeostatic plasticity with electric fields in rat hippocampal slices.

3:30-4:00 – Antal Berenyi – Perturbation of neuronal activity by transcranial electrical stimulation and optogenetic tools in animals

4:00-4:30 – Asif Rahman – Synaptic pathway and orientation specific modulation of neuronal excitability by weak direct current stimulation.

For abstracts, see the attached PDF.

Prof. Bikson to speak at: 

III International Symposium on Neuromodulation

Lucas Parra presents on Non-Invasive Neuromodulation at:

CRCNS 2011 PI Meeting: Princeton University

October 9-11

Lab meeting (10/03/2011): Asif Rahman will present "Synaptic Pathway-Dependent Effects of DC Electric-Fields In Rat Cortical Brain Slices" in the conference room, 5th floor at 2 PM.

Lab meeting (09/26/2011): Joao Dias will present "When Seeing and Looking do not Coincide!" in the conference room, 5th floor at 2pm.

In 1999, the City University of New York began training PhD candidates in biomedical engineering, three years before its engineering school, the Grove School at The City College of New York, even had a biomedical engineering department.  Fast-forward 12 years to 2011 and the program is now one of the nation’s best, according to National Research Council (NRC) rankings. (link)

As part of the Initiative for the Theoretical Sciences at the CUNY Graduate Center, there will be a series of one-day workshops on Brains, minds and models over the course of the 2011-12 academic year.

The goal of the series is to highlight current excitement surrounding theoretical approaches to problems in the neural and cognitive sciences.  The format will allow for considerable discussion, and I hope will provide an opportunity to get a feeling both for the broad research programs of different communities and for the technical details on which theories rise and fall.

The first workshop will be held on Tuesday 20 September:

Perception, memory and movement

    Short-term memory through compressed sensing

    Surya Ganguli, University of California at San Francisco

    A short-term memory circuit, from single neurons to behavior

    Mark Goldman, University of California at Davis

    Universal features of bistable percepts

    Nava Rubin, New York University

    Optimal control of movement

    Emo Todorov, University of Washington

Symposia will begin at 9:15 AM with bagels and coffee, and wrap up by 6:00 PM.  Lunch will be served.  All lectures will be in the Science Center, Room 4102 at the Graduate Center. Events are open to the scientific community, but we ask that you email its@gc.cuny.edu to register, so that we can provide the right amount of food and coffee (!).

Lab meeting (09/19/2011): Fernando Gasca will present "FEM Model of tCS in the Rat and Practical Issues in Multi-electrode tCS" in the conference room, 5th floor at 1:30pm.

"When seeing and looking do not coincide: scalp EEG correlates of found and missed targets during free-viewing."
CCNY Neuro-seminar by Joao Dias
The City College of New York Neuro-seminar 9/14/2011 (Wednesday) in MR801 from noon until 1 pm.

Prof. Marom Bikson on "CUNY Faculty Entrepreneurship Workshop" roundtable

Baruch College,  55 Lexington Ave (corner of 24th street); Room 2-140 Field Center for Entrepreneurship.

 "Rules of Engagement: Canonical Correlates of EEG across Multiple Movie Viewings"

Jacek Dmochowski

Tuesday, 09/13 at 12:35pm at the City College of New York

North Academic Center, room 7/236

 Sponsored by: The Program in Cognitive Neuroscience

 The City College & Graduate Center

 The City University of New York

Monday Sept 12, 2011 Justin Rice - BME Conference Room - 1 PM

Neural Engineering Group Meeting

"What I did on my summer vacation"

Neural Engineering Group Lab Meeting

Wen Aug 31st 1-2 PM. BME Conference Room

Topic: Ephaptic coupling of cortical neurons.

Nat Neurosci. 2011 Feb;14(2):217-23. by Anastassiou CA, Perin R, Markram H, Koch C.

Abstract: The electrochemical processes that underlie neural function manifest themselves in ceaseless spatiotemporal field fluctuations. However, extracellular fields feed back onto the electric potential across the neuronal membrane via ephaptic coupling, independent of synapses. The extent to which such ephaptic coupling alters the functioning of neurons under physiological conditions remains unclear. To address this question, we stimulated and recorded from rat cortical pyramidal neurons in slices with a 12-electrode setup. We found that extracellular fields induced ephaptically mediated changes in the somatic membrane potential that were less than 0.5 mV under subthreshold conditions. Despite their small size, these fields could strongly entrain action potentials, particularly for slow (<8 Hz) fluctuations of the extracellular field. Finally, we simultaneously measured from up to four patched neurons located proximally to each other. Our findings indicate that endogenous brain activity can causally affect neural function through field effects under physiological conditions.

pubmed   paper

CUNY Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC)

It's the centerpiece of the University's $1 billion investment in research facilities

video

Our High-Definition tDCS featured in FUTURE TECHNOLOGY TRENDS

Blog Article Link

"This new tDCS device has been developed by scientists at the [City Collegeof New York] Neural Engineering group.  Instead of utilizing two electrodes like you would find with conventional tDCS, this is an entire cap that has many of them and is similar to an EEG.  More regions of the brain can thus be adjusted than would normally be possible.  It is possible to hook this device up to a computer and allow it to deliver controlled stimulaiton to almost any region located close to a person’s skull." 

NYC Tech Connect (an initiative of The New York City Investment Fund) invites you to the kickoff event of our new, monthly Speaker’s Series -- Riverside Chats.  This series is designed for graduate students and post docs in the biosciences at all New York universities.    Each event will focus on some aspect of entrepreneurship, technology commercialization and funding sources.   Come to learn and network with NYC’s best and brightest entrepreneurial minds in the biosciences.

Host and partner: MSKCC’s Office of Technology Development (OTD).  All events will take place at the Rockefeller Board Room at 430 E. 67^th St. (between York and 1^st).

When:    Tuesday, August 9, 2011,  6-6:30 p.m. – program 6:30-7:30 p.m. – networking / cocktail hour

Topic:      The BioAccelerate NYC Prize – a $250,000 funding opportunity!

Speakers:    Jahan Ali, Senior Vice President, New York City Investment Fund and Dr. Sheila Nirenberg, Weill                           Cornell Medical College – 2011 Winner

RSVP required: events@nyctechconnect.com

(Save the Monthly Dates for upcoming events: September 13 / October 10 / November 8 / December 13)

Two CCNY Neural Engineering modeling papers published in leading journals- Innovation in tDCS optimization and tDCS in stroke.

Datta A, Baker J, Bikson M, Fridriksson F. Individualized model predicts brain current flow during transcranial direct-current stimulation treatment in responsive stroke patient. Brain Stimulation2011; 4: 169-74 read it

Dmochowski JP, Datta A, Bikson M, Su Y, Parra LC. Optimized multi-electrode stimulation increases focality and intensity at target. Journal of Neural Engineering . 2011; 8(4) read it

CCNY Neural Engineering Seminar: Christopher R. Butson, July 26th 9 AM. BME conference room.

Christopher R. Butson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Medical College of Wisconsin, Departments of Neurology & Neurosurgery

"thinking BIG" - Electrical brain stimulation technology features in CUNY Matters

HTML article here  July 11, 2011 | CUNY Matters, The University

"University researchers are now developing marketable products to help solve medical, energy and other global challenges. These profitable ideas will also benefit CUNY and the local economy.

What if. For science and technology researchers, these are the words that can start an idea on the road to invention — the connective tissue between something known and something imagined. In recent years, a particular brand of what-if has been percolating in labs around the University: the kind that can lead to something the world can really use...

What if electrical brain stimulation, a technique that has shown promise as a treatment for diseases like Parkinson’s, could be accomplished by simply placing electrodes on the scalp — rather than requiring a surgeon to drill a hole through the skull, as the technology now requires"

Follow Prof. Marom Bikson on Twitter for updates on Neuomodulation technology and Non-invasive electrotherapy devices. here

CUNY Entrepreneurship Workshop

THE CUNY CENTER FOR ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY AND THE FIELD CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP AT BARUCH COLLEGE - FALL 2011 FACULTY ENTREPRENEURSHIP WORKSHOP

The innovation economy of the 21st century will place a premium on rapid migration of research results from the university laboratory to the marketplace. For the past several years, CUNY’s Center for Advanced Technology (CAT) has worked with science and engineering faculty and research associates to help them understand the decisions they must make, and their consequences, as they seek commercial opportunities for their research.

More details and Register

Prof. Marom Bikson will speak on panel on entrepreneurship in New York City. (7:00-8:00PM on September 14th, Baruch College)

Our paper is published in NeuoImage

Halko M, Datta A, Plow E, Scaturro J, Bikson M, Merabet L. Neuroplastic changes following rehabilitative training correlate with regional electrical field induced with tDCS. NeuroImage . 2011; 57: 885-891

Read the paper: PDF

New Images of High-Definition tDCS with Marom Bikson and Abhi Datta

CUNY - Pictures by Dan Z Johnson

dan@danzphoto.net     www.danzphoto.net  

Prof. Marom Bikson presents at the special tDCS Symosium at the Neuro-Cognitive Rehabilitation Research Network at the University of Pennsylvania.  Slides are posted

The Neural Engineering group at The City College of New York has several ongoing research and development collaborations with clincians at the University of Pennsylvania medical campus and hospitals.  

This NCRRN is a collaborative effort of investigators at the Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute and the University of Pennsylvania to provide research infrastructure support and expert consultation to individuals interested in pursuing cognitive rehabilitation research.

Two technologies developed at CCNY Neural Engineering to be presented at the 2011 University Medical Innovation Showcase, June 7-8 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, New York, NY.

Prof. Marom Bikson will introduce:

High-Definition Transcranial Electrical Stimulation (HD-tES): Non-invasive, low-intensity, electrical Neurostimulation (see also Soterix Medical)
and
Wireless Intra-Operative Pulse Oximeter (with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center) (see the project page)

 

Congrats to Abhi Datta and Marom Bikson on the COVER article in the prestigious Journal of Pain. Their study provides the strongest data yet for model supported optimization of tDCS therapy.

Mendonca ME, Santana MB, Baptista AF, Datta A, Bikson M, Fregni D, Araujo CP. Transcranial DC Stimulation in Fibromyalgia: Optimized cortical target supported by high-resolution computational models. Journal of Pain . 2011; 12(5):610-617 pdf

Spring 2011 NYC Emerging Technologies Summit- "Opportunities in Neuroscience" features CCNY Neural Engineering technologies.

weblink

Date: Friday, May 6th 2011

Time: 1:00 – 6:00 PM

Location: CUNY Graduate Center, Recital Hall (1st floor), 365 5th Ave, New York

Prof. Marom Bikson will present technology on Non-Invasive Electrotherapy.

Much congratulations to Johnson Ho who is a 2011 Goldwater Scholar.  Johnson is the second Goldwater scholar from the Bikson lab.

From the CCNY announcement:

"Johnson Shiuan-Jiun Ho, a junior biomedical engineering major in the Grove School of Engineering and Macaulay Honors College at The City College of New York, has been awarded a Goldwater Scholarship for 2011.  The national award recognizes undergraduate students who demonstrate academic excellence and outstanding potential for future scientific research...

....Once Johnson began his classes, neural engineering piqued his interest.  The field applies engineering principles to brain research in order to develop treatments for neurological disorders.  “The brain is still a ‘black box’,” he noted.  "We kind of know how it works, but not really.”

Professor Marom Bikson’s research appealed to Mr. Ho because of the way it applied engineering solutions to medical problems for humanitarian purposes, and he became a member of his laboratory.  Professor Bikson investigates how electricity works on the brain, and he develops technologies to improve electrotherapy.  The technique stimulates the brain with electrical current delivered via electrodes attached to the scalp to treat intractable depression and the effects of stroke.  

Professor Bikson seems to have a knack for nurturing promising researchers: Itamar Belisha, a 2007 City College Goldwater Scholar, also emerged from his lab.

As an undergraduate researcher in Dr. Bikson’s lab, Mr. Ho helped develop a technology to prevent the irritation and pain caused by existing electrotherapy devices.  Previous electrodes consisted of two large, bath-sponge sized pads.  Mr. Ho collaborated with lab members to develop a non-invasive, low-intensity, and portable brain stimulation device worn like a swim cap.  He reengineered the two pads to create an array of small electrodes the size of earbuds that dot the cap.  The group patented the technology and described it in the “Journal of Neuroscience Methods.”  Mr. Ho has contributed to two research papers and two patents from the lab.:

Our team led by Prof. Marom Bikson works with clinicians at Harvard Medical School / Boston Childrens Hospital to develop a medical device which enables rapid safe and noninvasive detection of the ON state of the vagus nerve stimulator (VNS).

Typically, the VNS device cycles between the the ON and OFF states such that during the ON period, a small amount of electrical current is delivered to the vagus nerve via two electrodes implanted beneath the skin.  The potential value of such a device is to (1) inform the patient, clinician or a secondary device when the VNS is ON and (2) whether there is any unexpected electrical current leak due to an insulation breech or electrical lead break.  This may be useful to quickly determine whether the VNS is functioning properly, as when a patient suspects that the device may not be working, or the device nears the end of its battery life, or after chest or neck trauma.

Technology and Innovation Discolsure

In the news: In Nature this week, an article on the potential of tDCS quotes Prof. Marom Bikson and introduces our HD-tDCS innovation, "X" configuration.

Read it here.

Monday, March 28^th @ 2 pm, Mr. Kalpaxis, Chief Technology Officer at 24eight ( http://www.24eight.com/default.html ) will make a presentation in the Steinman Hall Exhibition Room.  He is an CCNY GSOE alum and entrepreneur who is interested in presenting the numerous projects his company is working on and is also interested in interacting with the GSOE Entrepreneurship Program.

Welcome to Belen Lafon, new PhD student (Parra's Lab)

Our overview on electrotherapy technology appears in the book Brain Stimulation in the Treatment of Pain. edited by Helena Knotkova, Ricardo Crucianim, and Joav Merrick published by Nova Science, New York 2011 ISBN 978-1-60876-690-1. book link in publishers page.

Bikson M, Datta A, Elwassif M, Bansal V, Peterchev AV. Introduction to Electrotherapy Technology. Read the chapter here.

Prof. Bikson presents an invited lecture on "Optimizing tDCS using computer modeling" on March 12 a the 8th Practical Course in Transcranial magnetic and electrical stimulation in Goettingen Germany (sponsored by the German Neuroscience Society) program

Congrats to Preet and Abhi on their paper in Clinical Neurophysiology.

Minhas P, Datta A, Bikson M. Cutaneous perception during tDCS: Role of electrode shape and sponge salinity. Clinical Neurophysiology . 2011; 122:637-638 link

Our paper " Electrical stimulation of excitable tissue: Design of efficacious and safe protocols" is the most cited in the Journal of Neuroscience Methods with 171 citations since 2005 and counting. link to journal page or read the paper here

The paper presents a comprehensive explanation of electrochemistry fundamentals in functional electrical stimulation and is a basic and important resource for any investigator developing new stimulation methods or technologies.  The paper explains man issues central to balancing safe and effective stimulaiton, including voltage vs current control and uses/limitations of biphasic stimulation.

Martin Elias Costa is a Ph.D. student from the lab of Mariano Sigman, in Buenos Aires. He will visit us on Friday and he will present his work to the lab. He will talk about:

"Semantic bistability as a tool to explore spoken word recognition"

11 AM, Friday, Dec 10

BME conference room T402

The following posters were presented at SFN 10 in San Diego:

Davide Reato, Marom Bikson, Lucas C Parra, "Intrinsic network dynamics govern sensitivity to weak electric fields: Adaptation, modulation and sub-harmonic pacing"

Asif Rahman, Davide Reato, Thomas Radman, Mark Gleichmann, Abhishek Datta, Lucas C Parra, Marom Bikson, "Effects of Weak Direct Current Stimulation on Synaptic Plasticity in Rat Motor Cortex in vitro"

Some pictures from San Diego.

Prof. Bikson presents a special lecture on "Modeling Effects of Neuromodulatory Tools" on Nov 19 at the Clinical, Assessment, and Intervention Updates in Neurorehabilitaiton course at Harvard Medical School.  Full brochure.

WATCH THE TALK here (at time 2:56) 

The Neural Engineering Lab will present two posters at the 2010 Society for Neuroscience conference in San Diego this week. We'll be showcasing our work on modulation of synaptic plasticity with weak DC fields by Asif Rahman and low-amplitude electric field effects on network dynamics by Davide Reato.

Mon, Nov 15, 4:00 - 5:00 PM
Poster #451.8/H52
Effects of weak direct current stimulation on synaptic plasticity in rat motor cortex in-vitro; electrophysiological and molecular analysis of mechanism.
D Reato, A. Rahman, T. Radman, M. Gleichmann, L. C. Parra, M. Bikson.

Tue, Nov 16, 3:00 - 4:00 PM
Poster #645.27/G21
Intrinsic network dynamics govern sensitivity to weak electric fields: Adaptation, modulation, and sub-harmonic pacing.
D. Reato, M. Bikson, L. C. Parra.

Congratulations to Abhi on the acceptance of his paper to Brain Stimulation "Individualized model predicts brain current flow during transcranial direct-current stimulation treatment in responsive stroke patient" by Abhishek Datta, Julie Baker, Marom Bikson, and Julius Fridriksson.  This paper is a fundamental technical advance in the modeling of brain current flow in individuals with stroke during tDCS.  Well done!

Prof. Bikson presents on "Toward next generation non-invasive electrical modulation" to the Interdisciplinary Neuroimaging Research Meeting at  the University of South Carolina.

Also, the Aphasia Laboratory at the University of South Caroline, led by Dr.Julius Fridriksson, initiates a Phase-1 HD-tDCS clinical trial.  The Aphasia Lab at USC has published seminal studies on the recovery of speech function using tDCS following stroke.

The CCNY BME Seminar by Jerry Korten, General Manager Strategic Markets at GE Healthcare, who will talk on "Epic Fail, Great Design versus the Clinical Value Proposition".   The seminar will be held on October 27, 2010 at 3:00 PM in Steinman Hall Room ST-402.

Our Wireless Intraoperative Pulse Oximeter ("WiPOX") enters Phase 1 clinical trials at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC).  Developed by Dr. Marom Bikson, Luiz Carolos Olleris, and Varun Bansal in collaboration with Dr. Prasad Adusumilli (MSKCC), the WiPOX have a wide range of potential applications ranging from acute (home) patient monitoring to plastic surgery.  Learn more at our Project page.

Congratulations Davide at al. on the paper "Low-intensity electrical stimulation affects network dynamics by modulating population rate and spike timing" accepted by The Journal of Neuroscience.

Dr. Marom Bikson will present our paper on the effects of DBS electric field on blood-brain barrier permeability to the Columbia Brain Stimulation and Therapeutic Modulation journal club.  This will be relevant for other modalities like ECT, MST, and TMS.  See also the Neual Engineering Project Page,

Wednesday, 8/18/10 at 1pm in Pardes Room 5001.

Asif brings this popular press articles to our attention: PopSci and New Scientist articles.

This was with conventional tDCS. So imagine the the further "boost" with our HD-tDCS (abhi's key article, Soterix).

Our HD-tDCS system enters additional Phase 1 clinical trials at Spaulding Rehabilitation Institute of Harvard Medical School.  Under IRB approval, HD-tDCS tolerability, safety, and efficacy in controlling pain will be evaluated by Dr Felipe Fregni at Harvard. The Laboratory of Neuromodulation at Spaulding/Harvard is among the nations premier centers for the evaluation and validation of new electrotherapy technologies. Learn more about difference aspects of transformative award-winning HD-tDCS on the Project Page.

Soterix Medical is a CCNY Neural Engineering spin-off that will develop the most state-of-the-art technology for non-invasive neuromodulation including tDCS and HD-tDCS.

NeuroRehab + "The Fun Factor"

Taeko Fukamoto project for Parsons The New School for Desig - with help from CCNY BME Design

link to paper

Rehabilitation processes for neurological traumas have traditionallyrelied on physical therapy that involves repetitive exercises. Whileproven to be effective, these processes can become monotonous forpatients and labor-intensive for therapists. Recent advancements inrobotics and game consoles have alleviated these issues but are generally limited to specific motor skills, while excluding other types ofdeficits. This paper considers this limitation by focusing on a deficitknown as the foot-drop and by exploring how the ”fun” factor canbe effectively incorporated into rehabilitating the condition. As apreliminary stage of this exploration, a device comprised of a gameand a controller using muscle-based electrical impulses has beendeveloped. The implementation of this device demonstrates potential benefits for the neurologically impaired with successful integration of muscle-based electrical impulses and game technology.Further testing is required to determine whether the integration ofgame-play can provide a ”fun” incentive, which results in increasedadherence to exercises that are typically arduous and repetitive.

"Neural Engineering applies engineering principles to solve questions in brain research, interesting overview article" from the Neurotechnology twitter feed.

Davide Reato gives the first of three lectures today on neuron models. The first lecture introduces neuronal modeling to the uninitiated - first describing types of models (compartmental models, cascade models and black box models) then followed by a discussion on classes of spiking neurons. The second lecture in this series will dive into the ways to model neurons.

Xiang Zhou will present "Outer hair cell function correlates with tinnitus" at the Fourth International TRI Conference: Frontiers in Tinnitus Research in the University of Texas, Dallas (June 8-11).

Friday Lab meeting: Xiang Zhou presents his work on tinnitus modeling and psychophysics.

"We hypothesize that tinnitus is the result of a gain-adaptation mechanism that, when confronted with degraded peripheral input, increase neuronal gains such that spontaneous neuronal activity is perceived as a phantom sound. The aim of this study is to find a colleration between the tinnitus percept with measures of peripheral processing on an individual subject basis. We try to predict the tinnitus likeness spectrum from both distortation product otoacoustic emission(DPOAE) and audiogram with high frequency resolution." - Xiang Zhou

Congratulations to Preet Minhas et al. for a paper accepted to Journal of Neuroscience Methods!

"Electrodes for high-definition transcutaneous DC stimulation for applications in drug-delivery and electrotherapy, including tDCS" by Preet Minhas, Johnson Ho, Varun Bansal, Jinal Patel, Julian Diaz, Abhishek Datta, and Marom Bikson

Congratulations Abhi et al. on a paper accepted to NeuroImage!

“Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Patients with Skull Defects and Skull Plates: High-Resolution Computational FEM Study of Factors Altering Cortical Current Flow” by Abhishek Datta, Marom Bikson, and Felipe Fregni (collaborator at Harvard Medical).

Friday Lab Meeting: Jacek will present progress of the optimization of high-definition tDCS stimulation.

Ranu Jung, Associate Professor at the Center for Adpative Neural Systems in Arizona State University will give a seminar on "Neuromorphic Design and Neural Prosthesis for Restoring Sensorimotor Function.

Friday Lab Meetings: Davide will present his article on the effects of fields on gamma oscillations, "Low-intensity electrical stimulation affects network dynamics by modulating population rate and spike timing – modulation, pacing and resonance"

Welcome Mathias Huber, from the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, who is a visiting scholar in the Neural Engineering group.

Two technolgies developed at CCNY Neural Engineering featured at the NYC Emerging Medical Technologies Summit.

2:30 PM Special Friday Seminar: Dr. Mingzhou Ding (Professor BME at U, Florida) will speak on "Dynamic Organization of Brain Networks".

NOTE We will not have our regular Friday morning seminar on this day. Note the seminar is at 2:30 PM.

2:00 PM, Leslie Blaha (Indiana University, Bloomington) will present a special seminar on "A Dynamic Hebbian-style Model of Configural Learning"

Marom Bikson presented at the International Symposium on Neuromodulation in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

"In vitro studies: designing targeted stimulation protocols" work by Tom Radman, Asif Rahman, and Davide Reato. 

"Computer modeling : what have we learned to design new interventions?" work by Abhishek Datta.

Friday Lab Meetings: Asif Rahman presented recent data on effects of DC fields on cortical synaptic function.

The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) initates a clinical trial on experimental pain using our High-Definition transcranial Electrical Stimulation (HD-tES) system. Jeff Borckardt and Mark George will lead the trial.

Marom Bikson, Abhi Datta, and Varun Bansal visited MUSC to deliver and set-up the technology.

Tom's paper on Spike Timing Amplifies the Effect of Electric Fields on Neurons: Implications for Endogenous Field Effects (Thomas Radman, Yuzhuo Su, Je Hi An, Lucas C. Parra, and Marom Bikson. The Journal of Neuroscience, March 14, 2007) was featured and discussed on Scientific Blogging.

Two medical technolgies developed in our lab are selected for the upcomming "NYC MedTech" showcase, organized by Columbia University on March 26th.

Prasad Adusumilli will present "Real-time intraoperative detection of tissue hypoxia by a novel wireless Pulse Oximetry (WiPOX)" based on our hand-held sensor technology.

Marom Bikson will present "H-sink: A method to reduce tissue heating at implantable medical devices including neuroprosthetic devices" 

Friday Lab Meetings: João will present the experiments and preliminary results on visual perception using the synchronization of Eye tracking and EEG, and the motivations behind the experiments.

Friday Lab meetings: Xiang will present the experiments he is performing about the voltage measurements at the scalp applying extra-cranial AC electric fields.

Marom Bikson presents among the finalists of the NYC Bioaccelerate Prize.  "Breakthrough in Electrotherapy Technology: High-Density Transcranial Electrical Stimulation (HD-tES)". The presentation will be at the Bank of America Tower (One Bryant Park).

Maged completed his first PhD exam. Congratulations!

The new website is now available at neuralengr.com

NYC Bioaccelerate Award FINAL ROUND selects our High-Density Transcranial Electrical Stimulation therapy. Congratulations design team!

http://www.bioacceleratenyc.org

Marom Bikson speaks at the National Institute of Health, National Institute of Aging on "A new medical device for non-invasive neuro-modulation and therapy with very low-intensity electrical currents".

Marom Bikson speaks at the Creative Management of Childhood Epilepsy symposium at New York Presbyterian Hospital (brochure) on technical challenges in epilepsy detection and electrotherapy (slides).

Varun Bansal and Abhishek Datta attend and present at the CIMIT Innovation Congress 2009 in Boston (Varun's poster).

Asif presents his poster at the 2009 Society for Neuroscience (SfN 2009) conference in Chicago:

T. Radman, A. Rahman, A. Datta, D. Reato, M. Bikson, "Low-amplitude DC electric fields induce long-term potentiation in rat motor cortex in vitro"

Some pictures from Chicago:

Two of our papers are published in Brain Stimulation. Congratulations to Abhi and team on another cover!

Radman T, Ramos RL, Brumberg JC, Bikson M. Role of cortical cell type and morphology in sub- and suprathreshold uniform electric field stimulation. Brain Stimulation. 2009; 2(4):215-228. PDF

Datta A, Bansal V, Diaz J, Patel J, Reato D, Bikson M. Gyri-precise head model of transcranial DC stimulation: Improved spatial focality using a ring electrode versus conventional rectangular pad. Brain Stimulation. 2009; 2(4):201-207. PDF

Marom Bikson presents insights on mechanisms and technology for tDCS at the National Institute of Health (NIH), National Institute of Neural Disorders and Stroke.  Slides

A picture from Davide’s birthday:



Congratulations to Yuzhuo Su who successfully defended her PhD thesis.

Cell reconstructions from Thomas Radmans upcoming paper "Role of Cortical Cell Type and Morphology in Sub- and Suprathreshold Uniform Electric Field Stimulation" posted on NeuroMorpho.Org.

Abhishek Datta gave his second PhD qualifying exam. Congratulations Abhi!

Davide gave a talk ("Effect of electric fields on gamma oscillations in brain slices") at the journal club of the Division of Brain Stimulation and Therapeutic Modulation at the Columbia University Medical Center.

The Journal of Medical Devices (Volume 3, Issue 2, June 2009) has published our following abstracts from the 2009 Medical Device Conference
 
1. High-Density Transcranial DC Stimulation (HD-tDCS): Targeting Software
A. Datta, V. Bansal, J. Diaz, J. Patel, L. Oliveira, D. Reato, and M. Bikson
J. Med. Devices 3, 027518 (2009)
 
2. High-Density Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (HD-tDCS): Hardware Interface
J. Diaz, V. Bansal, A. Datta, J. Patel, and M. Bikson
J. Med. Devices 3, 027544 (2009)
 
3. High-Density Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (HD-tDCS): Skin Safety and Comfort
J. Patel, V. Bansal, P. Minha, J. Ho, A. Datta, and M. Bikson
J. Med. Devices 3, 027533 (2009)
 
4. Temperature Control at DBS Electrodes Using Heat Sinks: Experimentally Validated FEM Model of DBS Lead Architecture
M. Elwassif, A. Datta, and M. Bikson
J. Med. Devices 3, 027534 (2009)
 
5. Intra-Operative Pulse Oximetry
L. Oliveira, E. Servais, N. Rizk, P. Adusumilli, and M. Bikson
J. Med. Devices 3, 027533 (2009)