Focus Areas
There are diverse ongoing neuroengineering research activities at Drexel University and at partnering institutions including functional optical brain imaging, neurorobotics, computational neuroscience, neuroinformatics, brain-computer interface, tissue engineering, neuropharmaceutical engineering, and neuroimaging.
Functional Optical
Brain Imaging
Functional optical brain imaging (fNIR) research at Drexel University and its partner institutions encompasses NIRS-based studies that are mainly focused on fNIR to monitor cognitive activity. Applications of fNIR technology include human performance studies, clinical monitoring in emergency medicine, critical care, anesthesiology, obstetrics, surgery, pediatrics, neurorehabilitation, mental health, training and education as well as homeland security applications such as deception monitoring.
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Neuroinformatics
The research program focuses on brain spatial normalization, high-throughput 3D microscopy, and image-centric databases. This integrated program draws on three fields: computer science, engineering, and neuroscience. Specifically, techniques from computer vision, bioinformatics, optical microscopy, MRI, histology, genetics, and neuroanatomy are brought together to build novel solutions to large-scale image analysis and image-based query systems. Research efforts focus on application in neuropathology and functional genomics.
Neurorobotics
Focus is on several different aspects including the development of closed-loop brain-machine interface for restoration of function in patients with paraplegia. This work includes extracting appropriate motor commands from the brain and functional stimulation of the spinal cord to restore locomotion. Projects include understanding the role of cortical plasticity after spinal injury, analysis of modularity in the motor system to simplify computation and control for the organism, and the use of afferent feedback to augment the gait during locomotor training.
Brain-Computer Interface
Projects at Drexel University include the development of devices for paraplegia, to detect brain injury and for patients with debilitating neurological disorders. This effort draws on the above neurorobotics and computation efforts as well as neuroengineering faculty working on implantable CNS electrodes, non-invasive near infrared devices for monitoring neural activity, development of probes for release and measurement of transmitters, control systems, and physical training paradigms. Translation of the results from benchtop to clinic relies on collaboration with Shriner's Hospital where clinical efficacy of the approaches under study will be evaluated.
Computational Neuroscience
Members have extensive experience using computational neuroscience to study theoretical and clinical problems in neuroscience and neurology. A major effort within this group is in modeling spinal circuitry and neural control of locomotion.
Neural Tissue Engineering
Projects include development of neural tissue scaffold to aid in repair after spinal cord injury or traumatic brain injury, the application of biomechanical approaches to the study of neurotrauma, and assistance to the brain-machine interface projects to minimize tissue damage and enhance the bioactive capabilities of neural implants.
Applied Neuropharmacology
Works at the interface between neuropharmacology and the pharmaceutical industry helping to develop new methods to identify and screen new candidate compounds for treatment of mental disorders.Computational modeling of the release, and network action of endogenous neurotransmitters is also addressed by this group.
