EE290-P Advanced Topics in Bioelectronics: Brain-Machine Interface Systems 

Spring 2006, 521 Cory Hall (Hogan room), TuTh 3:30-5:00pm.

Instructor: Jose Carmena, 517 Cory Hall, 643-2430, carmena at eecs
Office hours MW 9-10.  This is a 3 units course.


Course Overview

The aim of this course is to provide the student with an overall view of the multiple components that take part in a brain-machine interface (BMI) system, and the different disciplines and levels of abstraction needed for design and implementation of these systems.

BMI technology is meant to have a strong impact in society in the near future.  The BMI paradigm contends that a user can perceive sensory information and enact voluntary motor actions through a direct interface between the brain and an artificial actuator in virtually the same way that we see, walk or grab an object with our own natural limbs.  Proficient brain-control relies on the strong coupling between the brain and the machine, achieved through training with any combination of visual, tactile, or auditory feedback. As a result of long-term use of the BMI, the brain adapts to the artificial actuator by incorporating its dynamic and physical properties into a somatosensory representation. While significant breakthroughs have been achieved in recent years and the field is rapidly taking off, there are challenges that need to be met before BMI technology becomes part of our daily lives.  In this course we will address some of these challenges and discuss solutions and future directions.


Lecture Format and Guest Speakers

Classes will be held from 3:30-5pm Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Hogan room in 521 Cory Hall. Lectures and discussion of papers will take place on Tuesdays, and guest seminars on Thursdays. Speakers will cover a broad range of topics from neuroscience, engineering and clinical perspectives, that are related to BMI applications. The list of confirmed speakers is the following:

Ben Bonham, PhD. Department of Otolaryngology, Epstein Laboratory, UCSF
Michael Chorost, PhD. Scientific writer
Ron Fearing, PhD. EECS, UC Berkeley
Michael Gastpar, PhD. EECS, UC Berkeley
Richard Ivry, PhD. Psychology & HW Neuroscience Institute, UC Berkeley
Robert Knight, MD. Director, HW Neuroscience Institute, UC Berkeley
Luke Lee, PhD. Bioengineering, UC Berkeley
Philip Sabes, PhD. Keck Center for Integrative Neuroscience, UCSF
Krishna Shenoy, PhD. EE and Neuroscience, Stanford
Jonathan Wallis, PhD. Psychology & HW Neuroscience Institute, UC Berkeley
Frank Werblin, PhD. MCB & HW Neuroscience Institute, UC Berkeley
Bruno Olshausen, Ph.D. Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, UC Berkeley
Joseph Pancrazio, PhD. NIH/NINDS Extramural Research Program Director
Kristofer Pister, PhD. EECS, UC Berkeley
Jose Principe, PhD. EE and BME, Director of CNEL, University of Florida


Intended Audience

The course is highly multidisciplinary and is being offered to graduate students from EECS, Bioengineering  and Neuroscience programs. Senior undergraduates with strong interests in BMIs are also welcome to enroll.   There are no prerequisites although matlab programming experience will be beneficial. More information about assignments and course projects will follow.


Course Materials

There are no required texts for the course. Lecture readings will be provided, consisting of journal papers and chapters from several texts. Suggested texts are:


Course Calendar
Week

Date

 Topic

1		 1/17/06 Introduction, overview on BMI systems
1/19/06 Joseph Pancrazio, PhD. NIH/NINDS Extramural Research Program Director, "Neural Prosthesis Program at NINDS"

2
 1/24/06 Basic neurobiology
1/26/06 Frank Werblin, PhD. MCB & HW Neuroscience Institute, UC Berkeley, "Parallel Processing in the Retina: Neural coding of a dozen different representations of the visual world"

3
 1/31/06 Current techniques for multielectrode recordings.
2/2/06 Project work

4
 2/7/06 Kristofer Pister, PhD. EECS, UC Berkeley, "MEMS technology: sensing & communication inside a cubic millimeter"
2/9/06 Philip Sabes, PhD. Keck Center for Integrative Neuroscience, UCSF, "Sensorimotor integration"

5
 2/14/06 Michael Chorost, PhD. Scientific writer, author of "Rebuilt - how becoming part computer made me more human"
2/16/06 Ron Fearing, PhD. EECS, UC Berkeley, "Teletaction"

6
 2/21/06 BMI modeling: information decoding
2/23/06 Project work 

7
 2/28/06
 BMI modeling: information encoding
3/2/06
 Bruno Olshausen, Ph.D. Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, UC Berkeley, "Sparse coding and inference in visual cortex"

8
 3/7/06 Methods for neural ensemble analysis 
3/9/06 Ben Bonham, PhD. Department of Otolaryngology, Epstein Laboratory, UCSF, "Auditory prosthetics"

9
 3/14/06 Approaches for BMI control: continuous, discrete, shared.
3/16/06 Jose Principe, PhD. EE and BME, Director of CNEL, University of Florida

10
 3/21/06 Human-BMIs: Translation to the clinical realm
3/23/06 Robert Knight, MD. Director, HW Neuroscience Institute, UC Berkeley, "Electrocorticographic recordings in neurological patients"

11
 3/28/06 SPRING BREAK
4/30/06 SPRING BREAK

12
 4/4/06 Redundancy and variability in neural ensembles
4/6/06 Michael Gastpar, PhD. EECS, UC Berkeley, "Applications of information theory to neuroscience"

13
 4/11/06 Methods for quantification of cortical adaptation
4/13/06 Luke Lee, PhD. Bioengineering, UC Berkeley, "Applications of BioMEMS for neural interfaces"

14
 4/18/06 Richard Ivry, PhD. Psychology & HW Neuroscience Institute, UC Berkeley, "Cerebellar and event timing"
4/20/06 Jonathan Wallis, PhD. Psychology & HW Neuroscience Institute, UC Berkeley, "Decoding cognitive signals from prefrontal cortex"

15
 4/25/06 Emerging directions for BMI systems
4/27/06 Krishna Shenoy, PhD. EE and Neuroscience, Stanford, "Neural correlates of reach preparation and communication prosthetics"

16
 5/2/06  Course wrap-up
5/4/06 Project work
17
 5/9/06 Project presentations