Research

• Prediction of Electric Field in Neural Stimulation using AI/ML

• Modeling Retinal Network using AI

• Wireless Power Transfer Techniques for Biomedical Applications

Some of the exciting research projects we have worked on in the past are listed below, along with the resulting publication links.

Transcorneal Stimulation to Slow-down Retinal Degeneration

• We are designing less invasive electrical stimulation (transcorneal stimulation) strategies to stimulate retinal cells. Our in vivo rat experiment results indicate that the proposed strategy can slow down the progression of retinal degeneration, offering the intriguing potential to translate this work into clinics. [Paper]

Designing Neural Stimulation Safety Protocols using Artificial Intelligence

• We constructed computational models of peripheral nerve stimulation using CNN segmentation of nerve images. By correlating the computed data and experimentally observed morphology changes, we aim to formulate robust stimulation safety limits. [Paper]

• We studied the safety and efficacy of peripheral nerve stimulation with MECA electrodes (Multi-Electrode Cuff Array). We performed a series of studies to evaluate the histological effects of prolonged electrical stimulation on rat sciatic nerves. [Paper]

Wireless Power Transfer Systems for Biomedical Applications

• We contributed to designing a wireless power transfer (WPT) system that resulted in higher power transfer efficiency and gain than conventional WPT systems. [Paper]

• We was involved in designing a novel rectifier circuit for WPT systems with better performance under high-load conditions. [Paper]

Retinal Stimulation for Artificial Vision

• We developed a computational platform to design electrical stimulation using retinal implants. We designed novel stimulation waveforms that require a 55% lower current than traditional stimulation waveforms, suppress undesired spontaneous firing of retinal ganglion cells, and generate precise temporal spiking patterns. [Paper]

• We studied the mechanisms behind the electrical stimulation of the retina and proposed efficient stimulation parameters. [Paper]

• We constructed retinal models to understand the impact of morphological changes and abnormal junction formations in the degenerated retina compared to the healthy retina. These models are based on realistic morphology and topology data extracted from the connectomes built from TEM images of rabbit retina slices. [Paper 1] [Paper 2]

Magnetic Stimulation of Peripheral Nerves

• We created a heterogeneous sciatic nerve model based on the histological image of a rat sciatic nerve. Leveraging this model, we optimized designs of figure-of-eight coils, their positioning, and orientation with respect to the nerve to achieve lower thresholds and stimulation selectivity for magnetic stimulation. [Paper]

• We computationally investigated the selective activation of various regions of the rat sciatic nerve by using an array of magnetic coils. We carefully selected the magnitudes and phases for each coil in the array. We attained inter-fascicular and intra-fascicular selectivity higher than that of cuff electrodes. [Paper]

• We developed a current waveform truncation circuit for magnetic stimulation of the peripheral nerves. We experimentally demonstrated that such a current-truncating circuit could substantially reduce energy requirements and heat generated. [Paper]

Electromagnetic Safety Assessment of Biomedical Devices

• We performed the electromagnetic safety assessment of various commercial implantable devices and neural prosthetic systems. This includes a cortical visual prosthetic system and a retinal implant in collaboration with SecondSight Medical Products (now known as Vivani Medical, Inc.) and prosthetic arms in collaboration with Alfred Mann Foundation (now known as huMannity Medtec). These works utilized the FDTD method to compute electric fields induced in the human body and deployed multiple techniques to reduce the simulation time significantly. [Paper]