As the desire for more sophisticated neural prostheses increases, technology is being challenged to meets those needs. In particular, central nervous system prostheses such as those being proposed for the substitution of vision are expected to utilize hundreds of channels of artificial neural connections to the brain. Current technology for electrodes, transcutaneously powered implants, and neural coding strategies does not begin to fulfill the anticipated needs. Within the Laboratory of Neural Prosthetic Research, fundamental and translational work has broadly tackled the multi-disciplinary problems of researching and developing stable electrode interfaces, designing custom integrated circuit chips, developing novel methods of subminiature packaging, performing key animal experiments, and evolving a multi-modal assessment process, in preparation for the implantation of an intracortical visual prosthesis. However, the same technology is applicable towards several neural prosthesis devices that are presently being planned for human testing including: retinal prostheses, optic nerve prostheses, FES systems, and bio-electric controllers for prosthetic limbs. This seminar will discuss the range of research that is taking place within the Laboratory of Neural Prosthetic Research, at the Illinois Institute of Technology, combined with the commercial developments in prosthetic technology emerging from Sigenics, Inc.

Dr. Troyk is Associate Dean of Engineering, and a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology; he has a broad range of research interests related to neuroprostheses. Neuroprosthetic devices are implantable electronic modules that interface with the biological nervous system for the purpose of compensating for deficit, or disease, by mimicking normal sensory or motor function. Examples are neuromuscular stimulators for functional electrical stimulation (FES), implantable sensors for FES control, and cortical interfaces in which hundreds or thousands of electrodes sense and stimulate neurons within the central nervous system. The research work is highly interdisciplinary, using engineering principles and technology from electrical, computer, materials, mechanical, and chemical engineering. Design and fabrication of reliable implantable neuroprosthetic devices requires advancements in packaging of implantable electronics (hermetic and polymeric), VLSI integrated circuit design, transcutaneous magnetic coupling of power and data, as well as defining system architectures. His active research projects include development of implantable myoelectric sensors (IMES) for control of prostheses, and wireless transmission of ECoG signals for diagnosis of epilepsy. He is leader of a large multi-institutional team working to develop an intracortical visual prosthesis for individuals with blindness, as well as founder and CEO of Sigenics, Inc – an ASIC design company located in Chicago and Irwindale, CA.