|
|
|
||||||||
|
Box GL-N
Dept Neuroscience
Brown University
Providence, RI 02818
(401) 863-7765
John_Simeral@brown.edu |
Our research aims to understand
the cortical representation of movement and how the brain creates movement
intentions and turns them into action. We apply this knowledge to the
development of neural interface systems that are beginning to enable
individuals with paralysis to control computers, prosthetic arms and other
assistive devices using their motor intentions alone.
In an ongoing
pilot clinical trial under sponsor-investigator Dr. Leigh Hochberg and Dr. John P. Donoghue,
in association with Mass. General Hospital in Boston, the BrainGate team (www.BrainGate2.org) is developing and assessing the BrainGate2 neural interface system (FDA
Investigational Device Exemption, IDE) to enable persons with tetraplegia
to control a computer cursor and other assistive devices using neural
signals recorded from motor cortex using the Blackrock Microsystems
implantable 100-microelectrode array.
At Brown University, coordinated research in the Neuroscience laboratory of Dr. Donoghue, the Engineering group of Dr. Hochberg, and Dr. Michael J. Black's team in the Department of Computer Science is enabling the development of real-time systems for the control of neural prostheses by individuals with paralysis. We are actively investigating the practical issues
involved in enabling direct neural control of devices such as
Windows-based assistive technology software, typing communication
interfaces for individuals with locked-in syndrome, web browsers,
wheelchairs, and state-of-the-arm prosthetic/robotic arms and hands. The
engineering, computer science, neuroscience, clinical, legal, and
logistical challenges of developing and deploying such systems are
significant and interdependent. The core of the research involves the
development of principles and algorithms for decoding detailed motor
intentions from populations of neurons recorded from motor areas of
neocortex using implantable intracortical devices. Progress relies on, and
contributes to, basic research in the cortical substrates of motor
control, motor equivalence, probabilistic estimation, clinical expertise,
and more.
Collaboration with colleagues at
Case Western Reserve University under Dr. Robert Kirsch is driving
toward enabling the control of paralyzed limbs through functional
electrical stimulation (FES) coupled to our intracortical neural interface
system and neural decoding algorithms.
In addition, we are working with Dr. Y-K Song, Dave Borton and Dr. Arto Nurmikko's engineering team to design and test new brain-implantable microelectronic devices for recording and wirelessly transmitting neural activity. The system is undergoing in-vivo test phase and will eliminate cables which currently tether patients to the decoding computers, and will improve long-term reliability of the implantable system by replacing intracranial wire connections with biostable fiber optic technology. John D. Simeral Ph.D. Neuroscience Wake Forest University School of Medicine, 2003 M.S. Electrical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, 1987 B.S. Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, 1985 |
||||||||
|
Education
Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Ph.D. Neuroscience, 2003 Thesis: "Neural representation and rhythmicity in the hippocampus" University of Texas at Austin, MS Electrical and Computer Engineering, 1987 Thesis: "Monitoring and controlling surgical temperatures during laser angioplasty using infrared feedback" Stanford University: BS in Electrical Engineering,1985 Academic
Appointments
1.09 - present : Research Biomedical Engineer, Rehabilitation R&D Service, Providence VA Medical Center 8/03 - present : Research Fellow, Brown University Department of Neuroscience, Providence, RI 1/06 - 1/09 : Research Scientist, Rehabilitation R&D Service, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Providence, RI 10/97 - 9/00 : NIH NRSA predoctoral fellow, Wake Forest Univ School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 7/94 - 1/95 : Lecturer, UCSD Electrical & Computer Engineering Dept, San Diego, CA Industry Positions 6/93 - 8/95 : Sr. Principal Engineer & Project Leader, AT&T Corp, Rancho Bernardo, CA 4/90 - 6/93 : Principal Engineer, ASIC and Memory System Design, NCR JDO, Torrey Pines, CA 9/87 - 4/90 : Engineer, Custom VLSI Development, NCR Corp, Rancho Bernardo, CA 9/86 - 9/87 : Research Engineer, Multichip Module VLSI Fabrication, MCC, Austin, TX Patents 6/92 : Canadian Patent # 1,304,459: “ECL-to-CMOS Converter” 6/90 : United States Patent # 4,888,501: “ECL-to-CMOS Converter” Teaching Experience 2005 - present : Lecturer, Brown Medical School, Neuroanatomy 3/01 - 12/02 : Instructor & 2nd degree black belt, World Tae Kwon Do Association 7/94 - 1/95 : Lecturer, UCSD ECE Dept, Microelectronics System Design (28 lectures) 9/86 - 6/86 : Teaching Assistant, U. Texas Austin Elec & Comp Eng Dept, Microelectronics Lab Selected Speaking Topics 2008-2009 : "Biomaterials for Intracortical Neuroprosthetics", Brown University 2006-2007 : "Motor Learning", a course lecture for the Cognitive Science Department, 2005 : NCM (Neural Control of Movement Society) annual meeting, (poster presentation) 2002-2003 : Instructor, 2nd Dan, 2002 : Seminar in Neuroscience, for the undergraduate neuroscience curriculum, 1999 : ISMRM (International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine) annual meeting 1994 : "Microelectronic Systems", a complete course for Electrical and Computer Eng seniors, UCSD 1994 : "VLSI for the NCR WorldMark Platform", a lecture for Intl. NCR ASIC Developers conf. Memberships Society for Neuroscience Society for the Neural Control of Movement Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society of IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society of IEEE, Providence Chapter (founding member) Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) American Association for the Advancement of Science Publications (updated 2007) Song Y-K, Patterson WR, Bull CW, Serruya MD, Davitt KM, Petrica P, Viamari MA, Nurmikko AV, Fellows MR, Simeral JD and Donoghue JP. Development of a brain implantable microsystem with infrared optical telemetry for advanced neuromotor prosthesis. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng (accepted). Donoghue JP, Hochberg LR, Nurmikko AV, Black MJ, Simeral JD and Friehs G. Neuromotor prosthesis development. Med Health R.I. 90(1):12-15, 2007. Song Y-K, Patterson WR, Bull CW, Beals J, Hwang N, Deangelis AP, Lay C, McKay JL, Nurmikko AV, Fellows MR, Simeral JD, Donoghue JP and Connors BW. Development of a chipscale integrated microelectrode/microelectronic device for brain implantable neuroengineering applications. IEEE Trans Neural Syst and Rehabil Eng 13(2):220-226, 2005. Hampson RE, Simeral JD, Kelly EJ and Deadwyler SA. Tolerance to the memory disruptive effects of cannabinoids involves addaptation by hippocampal neurons. Hippocampus 13:543-556, 2002. Hampson RE, Simeral JD and Deadwyler SA. “Keeping on track”: firing of hippocampal neurons during delayed-nonmatch-to-sample performance. J Neurosci, 22:RC198 (1-6), 2002. Hampson RE, Simeral JD and Deadwyler SA. What ensemble recordings reveal about functional hippocampal cell encoding. Progress in Brain Research, 130:345-57, 2001. Hampson RE, Simeral JD and Deadwyler SA. Distribution of spatial and nonspatial information in dorsal hippocampus. Nature, 402, 610-614, 1999. Sanwo IJ, Simeral JD and Milby GH. High-Speed ECL-to-CMOS and CMOS-to-ECL Converters. NCR Journal, 4:2,10-16, 1990. Abstracts (updated 2007) Simeral JD, Kim S-P, Black MJ, Donoghue JP, Hochberg
LR. Ensemble spiking activity as a source of cortical control signals in
individuals with tetraplegia. BMES Annual Fall Meeting.
2007.
Donoghue JP, Simeral JD, Kim S-P, Friehs GM, Hochberg LR and Black MJ. Toward standardized assessment of pointing devices for brain-computer interfaces. 2007 Neuroscience Meeting Planner. San Diego, CA: Society for Neuroscience, 2007. Online.. Simeral JD, Kim S-P, Donoghue JP, Black MJ, Friehs GM, Brown RH Jr., Krivickas LS and Hochberg LR. Directional tuning in motor cortex of a person with ALS. 2007 Neuroscience Meeting Planner. San Diego, CA: Society for Neuroscience, 2007. Online. Kim S-P, Simeral JD, Hochberg LR, Friehs GM, Donoghue JP, and Black MJ. Point-and-click cursor control by a person with tetraplegia using an intracortical neural interface system. 2007 Neuroscience Meeting Planner. San Diego, CA: Society for Neuroscience, 2007. Online. Song Y-K, Borton DA, Patterson WR, Bull CW, Nurmikko AV, Simeral JD, and Donoghue JP. Wireless implantable cortical recording microsystem for advanced neuroengineering applications. BMES Annual Fall Meeting, 2007. Song Y-K, Patterson WR, Bull CW, Borton D, Li Y, Nurmikko AV, Simeral JD, and Donoghue JP. A brain implantable microsystem with hybrid RF/IR telemetry for advanced neuroengineering applications. 29th IEEE EMBS Annual International Conference, Lyon, France. 2007. Kim S-P, Simeral JD, Hochberg LR, Donoghue JP, Friehs GM and Black MJ. Multi-state decoding of point-and-click control signals from motor cortical activity in a human with tetraplegia. 3rd International IEEE EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering, Kohala Coast, HI. 2007. Simeral, JD, Dushanova JA, Donoghue JP. Wrist and arm movement direction are robustly represented in overlapping populations of monkey MI arm area neurons. Program No. 451.17. 2006 Neuroscience Meeting Planner. Atlanta, GA: Society for Neuroscience, 2006. Online. Serruya MD, Song Y-K, Patterson WR, Bull CW, Nurmikko AV, Fellows MR, Simeral JD, Donoghue JP. Development of a brain implantable microsystem with infrared optical telemetry for advanced neuromotor prosthesis. Program No. 148.15. 2006 Neuroscience Meeting Planner. Atlanta, GA: Society for Neuroscience, 2006. Online. Kim S, Simeral JD, Donoghue JP, Hochberg LR, Friehs G, Mukand JA, Chen D, Black MJ. A comparison of decoding models for imagined motion from human motor cortex Program No. 256.11. 2006 Neuroscience Meeting Planner. Atlanta, GA: Society for Neuroscience, 2006. Online. Kim S-P, Simeral JD, Kenkins OC, Donoghue JP, Black MJ. Finding directional movement representations in motor cortical neural populations using nonlinear manifold learning. World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, 2006; Seoul, Korea, 2006. Song Y-K. Patterson WR, Bull CW, Nurmikko AV, Fellows MR, Simeral JD, Serruya MD, Donoghue JP. Development of an On-Chip Microelectronic Interface for Brain Implantable Neuroengineering Applications. BMES Annual Meeting, Chicago. Biomed Eng Soc, 2006. Simeral JD, Dushanova JA and Donoghue JP. Effector specificity in the firing activity of simultaneously-recorded neurons in monkey MI during wrist and arm movements. Neural Control of Movement (NCM) Annual Meeting, 2005. Simeral JD, Dushanova JA and Donoghue JP. Encoding of wrist and arm movements by simultaneously-recorded populations of neurons in MI motor cortex of monkeys. Program No. 872.17. 2004 Abstract Viewer and Itinerary Planner. Washington, DC : Society for Neuroscience, 2004. Dushanova JA, Simeral JD and Donoghue JP. Task-related changes in neuronal ensembles in motor cortex of monkeys during arm and wrist tracking. Program No. 872.16. 2004 Abstract Viewer and Itinerary Planner. Washington, DC : Society for Neuroscience, 2004. Simeral JD, Hampson RE and Deadwyler SA. Characterization of single-trial hippocampal ensemble codes in rats performing a delayed nonmatch-to-sample task. Soc Neurosci Abstr, 27, Program 953.13, 2001. Simeral JD, Hampson RE and Deadwyler SA. Neural encoding in rat hipocampus and associated structures during short-term memory of images in a visual delayed match-to-sample task. Soc Neurosci Abstr, 26:171.11, 2000. Hampson RE, Simeral JD and Deadwyler SA. Information content analysis reveals a functional linkage between hippocampal and subicular neurons during the delay of DNMS trials. Soc Neurosci Abstr, 26:173.8, 2000. Deadwyler SA, Jordan ER, Simeral JD, Smulders TV and Hampson RE. Tolerance to, and precipitated withdrawal from, chronic cannabinoid effects on memory are reflected in task-revelant encoding by ensembles of hippocampal neurons. Soc Neurosci Abstr, 26:773.13, 2000. Simeral JD, Hampson RE and Deadwyler SA. Neural encoding in rat hipocampus during discrimination of images in a visual delayed match-to-sample task. WNC Soc Neurosci Annual Meeting, 2000. Simeral JD, Hampson RE and Deadwyler SA. Derivation of task-relevant ensemble codes on single delayed-nonmatching-to-sample trials. Soc Neurosci Abstr, 25(2):1386, 1999. Simeral JD, Hampson RE and Deadwyler SA. Derivation of task-relevant ensemble codes on single delayed-nonmatching-to-sample trials. WNC Soc Neurosci Annual Meeting, 1999. Pons TP, Simeral JD, Yen Y-F, Hernandez L, Hampson RE and Deadwyler SA. Independent components analysis of functional MRI during visual & motor activations: derivation of variance sources and comparision with statistical parametric mapping. Soc Neurosci Abstr, 25(1):1137, 1999. Simeral JD, Pons TP, Yen Y-F, Hernandez L, Hampson RE and Deadwyler SA. Comparison of independent component analysis (ICA) and statistical parametric mapping (SPM) procedures in an fMRI visual activation study. In: Proc Int Soc Magn Res Med, 8th Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, 1999. Simeral JD, Hampson RE and Deadwyler SA. Derivation of spatial vs temporal connectivity from population analyses in ensembles of hippocampal neurons. Soc Neurosci Abstr, 24(2):1908, 1998. Simeral JD, Deadwyler SA and Hampson RE. Understanding Patterns of Activity in Neuronal Ensembles: A Nonlinear Systems Approach. WNC Soc Neurosci Annual Meeting, 1997. Hampson RE, Rawley J, Simeral JD, Byrd DR, Brooks JK and Deadwyler SA. Disruption of encoding but not recognition by cannabinoids via differential action on hippocampal memory circuits. Soc Neurosci Abstr 23:509,1997. |
|||||||||
