Institute for Biology, Engineering and Medicine (I-BEAM)
Date August 20, 2024
All News

Recent Publication Spotlights

By Charlotte Merzbacher
Diagram of a computer and a chart labeled with arrows, letters, and words
EEG-based& brain-computer interface& assessment in the& intensive care& unit. (A) Photo of patient 1 (P1) undergoing EEG-based& BCI& assessment in the intensive care unit. (B) Schematic of a session. Abbreviations: EVD = external ventricular drain; A-line = arterial line.
Clinical Neurophysiology

Hochberg Lab

Leigh Hochberg’s lab for Restorative Neurobiology has recently published two papers on their recent work on brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). Hochberg’s lab investigates human intracortical neurophysiology and the planning and reduction of voluntary movement with the goal of developing BCIs for people with paralysis or limb loss. They are also involved with BrainGate, an interdisciplinary initiative to create devices that restore communication and movement to patients with neurologic diseases, brain injury, or limb loss. Professor Hochberg earned his bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from Brown in 1990 and his MD and PhD degrees from Emory University. The first paper, “Stable long-term BCI enabled communication in ALS and locked-in syndrome using LFP signals”, was published in the Journal of Neurophysiology in April. The paper focuses on applying BCI technology, which usually requires frequent technical intervention and calibration, to long-term everyday use. The BCI used in this study translated intracortical local field potentials (LFPs) into typing. The two patients in the study retained the BCI for 76 and 138 days and were able to type 3.07 and 6.88 correct characters per minute with the system. The second paper, entitled “Feasibility of an EEG-based brain-computer interface in the intensive care unit”, was published in Clinical Neurophysiology. The paper used a commercially available EEG-based BCI to confirm consciousness in patients in the ICU. The device specifically tested ten patients with locked-in syndrome and acute disorders of consciousness. Using auditory and visual evoked potentials as well as motor imagery, the BCI assessed consciousness in less than one hour. While the BCI confirmed the locked-in patient’s consciousness, there was overall no association between BCI responses and behavioral signs of consciousness.

Wong & Franck Labs

Professors Ian Wong and Christian Franck also recently coauthored a paper on rapid particle tracking in Scientific Reports. The paper describes an algorithm that tracks tracer particles or labeled objects of interests, such as viruses and bacteria, to reveal complex collective behaviors. While there exist algorithms that can track particles over time, these algorithms can be slow and have difficulty distinguishing identical or overlapping particles. Topology-based Particle Tracking, as the authors have named it, uses vectors to describe the positions of an object’s nearest neighbor, removes outliers, and finds the volumes between the particles and how these volumes deform over time. The authors hope that this algorithm will be useful for examining complex motion in 2D and 3D images.

CBME Labs

In addition to the papers discussed above, CBME faculty have also published these papers over the course of the spring semester: