Research

The research thrusts of our lab are broadly in the areas of (a) neural interfaces and (b) neuromodulation. Neural interfaces are indispensable to our process of discovering the brain and the nervous system. They are also useful to modulate the function of the nervous system in the event of a neurological disorder or disease. The three features of ideal neural interfaces in the brain are (1) they interface with all the neurons, (2) allow the animal or subject to behave unhindered while they interface with the neurons and lastly (3) they function reliably for several years. None of the current neural interfaces come even remotely close to meeting these requirements in larger species, but we are certainly moving in that direction and the hope is that we will get to meet these requirements in the next decade. The numerous challenges that confront us in our journey to get there make this journey very interesting.

Neuromodulation is even more interesting in that we transfer energy into the nervous system across the neural  nterface to achieve a desirable end goal such as desired function of an end-organ (innervated by the nerve) or neurological behavior of the organism. We want to do this in a safe and efficacious manner over the life-time of a patient. Our understanding of the structure and function of the brain and the nervous system clearly forms the bedrock of any neuromodulation strategy.

Our laboratory has made several seminal contributions in biomechanics of neural interfaces, novel robotic neural interfaces, ultrasound induced neuromodulation, novel biomaterials for neural interfaces, mechanisms of gene transfection etc.

If after browsing through our web-site, you have any questions please feel free to email me using the contact information you can find at faculty of School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering.