1st Gordon Research Conference on Neuroelectronic Interfaces

Post date: Apr 4, 2017 9:02:05 PM

https://www.grc.org/programs.aspx?id=17731

Application Deadline

Applications for this meeting must be submitted by February 25, 2018. Please apply early, as some meetings become oversubscribed (full) before this deadline. If the meeting is oversubscribed, it will be stated here. Note: Applications for oversubscribed meetings will only be considered by the Conference Chair if more seats become available due to cancellations.

Please note: The online application form for 2018 meetings will be available in April.

Meeting Description

Neuroelectronic interfaces bridge the central nervous system to the outside world and hold great potential for functional restoration in persons with paralysis, other forms of motor dysfunction, or limb loss. Such rehabilitative applications are commonly referred to as brain machine (or brain computer) interfaces. With a variety of signal transducing systems and processing algorithms, extracted neural signals were shown to be useful to drive external devices such as limb prostheses or computers. A number of types of recording electrode devices have been developed to access different forms of neural information through varying levels of invasiveness. However, many researchers believe that recording devices that penetrate into specific regions of the brain will provide the most useful control signals for complex BMI applications. Despite the potential that penetrating intracortical microelectrodes have shown, widespread implementation is impeded by the inability to consistently record high quality neural signals over clinically relevant time frames.

The last years showed both an increasing interest into the cellular reasons and pathological causes for this slow-down in bridging the translational gap on one side and a new range of materials and methods appearing from the developmental pipelines like Graphene and Nanomaterials on the other side. Therefore, our inaugural Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Neuroelectronic Interfaces will challenge the international field to turn back to the drawing board of basic materials research armed with emerging fundamental neurosciences knowledge, and bring together a multi-disciplinary team of leading experts in cellular neuroscience, brain pathology, neuro-technology and materials science in order to discuss and eventually solve or discard the obstacles on the quest for a chronically useful and reliable neural interface.

Preliminary Program

The topics and speakers for the conference sessions are displayed below (italics denote discussion leaders). The Conference Chair is currently developing their detailed program, which will include the complete meeting schedule, as well as the talk titles for all speakers. The detailed program will be available by November 25, 2017. Please check back for updates.

• Brain-Machine Interfaces
• (A. Ajiboye / Richard Andersen / Robert Kirsch / Miguel Nicolelis)
• Neuropathology – The Brain's Response to Injury
• (Maria Asplund / Carola Haas / Alex Huang / Marco Prinz)
• Brain Implants – State of the Art
• (Kip Ludwig / Cindy Chestek / Stephanie Lacour / Patrick Ruther / Philip Troyk)
• Functional Materials and Brain
• (Simon Thiele / Polina Anikeeva / Elisa Castagnola / Jurgen Ruhe / Walter Voit)
• Neurophotonics and Brain Implants
• (Justin Williams / Ilka Diester / Erin Purcell / Daniel Razansky / Cristin Welle)
• Biomechanics of the Device-Tissue Interface
• (Kevin Otto / James Fawcett / Ellen Kuhl / Jit Muthuswamy)
• Soft Matter Interactions in Brain Implants
• (Manfred Radmacher / Xinyan Cui / Yael Hanein)
• Device Biologisation and Stem Cells
• (Ana Paula / D. Kacy Cullen / Davide Ricci / John Wolf)
• Nanotools in Neural Interfacing
• (Joseph Pancrazio / Edward Boyden / Hilton Kaplan / Chong Xie)