Lecture

Electrical Stimulation for Actuation

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In course

BIOENG-448: Fundamentals of neuroengineering

Neuroengineering is at the frontier between neuroscience and engineering: understanding how the brain works allows developing engineering applications and therapies of high impact, while the design of new measurement and data analysis techniques contribute ...

Description

This lecture explores techniques to restore motor functions in patients after traumatic events like spinal cord injury, focusing on electrical stimulation of muscles, nerves, and the spinal cord. It covers functional electrical stimulation, different types of electrodes, and examples of applications. The instructor demonstrates the use of electrical stimulation for muscle contraction and discusses the challenges of muscle fatigue and non-linear responses. The lecture also delves into the use of epidural spinal cord stimulation to restore intentional movement, including the implantation process and the potential for partial neurological recovery.

Instructors (2)

Solaiman Shokur

2019 - now : Senior Scientist, Translational neuroengineering Laboratory, EPFL(Geneva) Team leader: CHRONOS project, a multi-center European project that aims at developing the first chronically implanted prosthetic hand for transradial amputee patients with bidirectional communication capabilities. NCCR Robotics: Bi-directional control of supernumerary limbs.2014-2019: Research Coordinator, AASDAP (São Paulo, Brazil) Responsible for both the scientific production and the clinical protocol at the AASDAP neurorehabilitation laboratory. 2013-2014: Postdoctoral associate, Walk again project, Insituto Santos Dumond. (Natal, RN, Brazil)Head of the engineering team in charge of the system integration. 2010-2012: Visiting scientist, Nicolelis Lab (Duke University). Development and validation of a virtual-reality based brain-machine interface for rhesus monkeys. 2007 – 2010: Teaching assistant, Laboratory of Robotics Systems (EPFL)

Silvestro Micera

Short biographical sketch Silvestro Micera received the University degree (Laurea) in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pisa, in 1996, and the Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Engineering from the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, in 2000. From 2000 to 2009, he has been an Assistant Professor of BioRobotics at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna where he is now the Head of the Neural Engineering group. In 2007 he was a Visiting Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA with a Fulbri

Official source

Related concepts (32)

Spinal cord stimulator

A spinal cord stimulator (SCS) or dorsal column stimulator (DCS) is a type of implantable neuromodulation device (sometimes called a "pain pacemaker") that is used to send electrical signals to select areas of the spinal cord (dorsal columns) for the treatment of certain pain conditions. SCS is a consideration for people who have a pain condition that has not responded to more conservative therapy. There are also spinal cord stimulators under research and development that could enable patients with spinal cord injury to walk again via epidural electrical stimulation (EES).

Muscle contraction

Muscle contraction is the activation of tension-generating sites within muscle cells. In physiology, muscle contraction does not necessarily mean muscle shortening because muscle tension can be produced without changes in muscle length, such as when holding something heavy in the same position. The termination of muscle contraction is followed by muscle relaxation, which is a return of the muscle fibers to their low tension-generating state.

Muscle weakness

Muscle weakness is a lack of muscle strength. Its causes are many and can be divided into conditions that have either true or perceived muscle weakness. True muscle weakness is a primary symptom of a variety of skeletal muscle diseases, including muscular dystrophy and inflammatory myopathy. It occurs in neuromuscular junction disorders, such as myasthenia gravis. Muscle weakness can also be caused by low levels of potassium and other electrolytes within muscle cells.

Muscle cell

A muscle cell is also known as a myocyte when referring to either a cardiac muscle cell (cardiomyocyte) or a smooth muscle cell, as these are both small cells. A skeletal muscle cell is long and threadlike with many nuclei and is called a muscle fiber. Muscle cells (including myocytes and muscle fibers) develop from embryonic precursor cells called myoblasts. Myoblasts fuse from multinucleated skeletal muscle cells known as syncytia in a process known as myogenesis.

Spinal cord injury research

Spinal cord injury research seeks new ways to cure or treat spinal cord injury in order to lessen the debilitating effects of the injury in the short or long term. There is no cure for SCI, and current treatments are mostly focused on spinal cord injury rehabilitation and management of the secondary effects of the condition. Two major areas of research include neuroprotection, ways to prevent damage to cells caused by biological processes that take place in the body after the injury, and neuroregeneration, regrowing or replacing damaged neural circuits.

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