Emerging Neurotechnologies for Interfacing the Brain (Talk)

Invasive access by microprobe arrays inserted safely into the brain is now enabling us to “listen” to local neural circuits at levels of spatial and temporal detail which, in addition to enriching fundamental brain science, has led to the possibility of a new generation of neurotechnologies to overcome disabilities due to a range of neurological injuries where pathways from the brain to the rest of the central and peripheral nervous systems have been injured or severed. In this presentation we discuss the biomedical engineering challenges and opportunities with these incipient technologies, with emphasis on implantable wireless neural interfaces for communicating with the brain.

A second topic, related to the possibility of sending direct inputs of information back to the brain by implanted devices is also explored, focusing on recently discovered means to render selected neural cell types and microcircuits to be light sensitized, following local microbiologically induced conditioning.