Root Mean Square Error of Neural Spike Train Sequence Matching with Optogenetics

Optogenetics is an emerging field of neuroscience where neurons are genetically modified to express light-sensitive receptors that enable external control over when the neurons fire. Given the prominence of neuronal signaling within the brain and throughout the body, optogenetics has significant potential to improve the understanding of the nervous system and to develop treatments for neurological diseases. This paper uses a simple optogenetic model to compare the timing distortion between a randomly-generated target spike sequence and an externally-stimulated neuron spike sequence. The distortion is measured by filtering each sequence and finding the root mean square error between the two filter outputs. The expected distortion is derived in closed form when the target sequence generation rate is sufficiently low. Derivations are verified via simulations.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures. Will be presented at IEEE Global Communications Conference (IEEE GLOBECOM 2017) in December 201

An Adaptable Lateral Resolution Acoustic Beamforming for the Internet of Bio-Nano Things in the Brain

The Internet of Bio-Nano Things in the Brain are minimally invasive untethered links between the brain tissue and silicon platforms. Even though these interfaces have been envisioned for many biomedical applications, it is unclear how the ultimate technology will support spatially distributed networks. In this paper, we address the distributed power allocation through adaptable beamforming by varying the acoustic beam lateral resolution. Our results show improvements in average power transfer efficiency for sparser beams compared to narrower ones for a randomly placed network of implantable devices with 15 nodes within a 4mm2 space in the neocortex

Digital Twins: Potentials, Ethical Issues, and Limitations

After Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI), the subject of Digital Twins has emerged as another promising technology, advocated, built, and sold by various IT companies. The approach aims to produce highly realistic models of real systems. In the case of dynamically changing systems, such digital twins would have a life, i.e. they would change their behaviour over time and, in perspective, take decisions like their real counterparts \textemdash so the vision. In contrast to animated avatars, however, which only imitate the behaviour of real systems, like deep fakes, digital twins aim to be accurate "digital copies", i.e. "duplicates" of reality, which may interact with reality and with their physical counterparts. This chapter explores, what are possible applications and implications, limitations, and threats.Comment: 22 pages, in Andrej Zwitter and Oskar Gstrein, Handbook on the Politics and Governance of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence, Edward Elgar [forthcoming] (Handbooks in Political Science series

Intra-Body Communications for Nervous System Applications: Current Technologies and Future Directions

The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) paradigm will enable next generation healthcare by enhancing human abilities, supporting continuous body monitoring and restoring lost physiological functions due to serious impairments. This paper presents intra-body communication solutions that interconnect implantable devices for application to the nervous system, challenging the specific features of the complex intra-body scenario. The presented approaches include both speculative and implementative methods, ranging from neural signal transmission to testbeds, to be applied to specific neural diseases therapies. Also future directions in this research area are considered to overcome the existing technical challenges mainly associated with miniaturization, power supply, and multi-scale communications.Comment: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S138912862300163

Wireless Optogenetic Neural Dust for Deep Brain Stimulation

In recent years, numerous research efforts have been dedicated towards developing efficient implantable devices for Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS). However, there are limitations and challenges with the current technologies. Firstly, the stimulation of neurons currently is only possible through implantable electrodes which target a population of neurons. This results in challenges in the event that stimulation at the single neuron level is required. Secondly, a major hurdle still lies in developing miniature devices that can last for a lifetime in the patient's brain. Recently, the concept of neural dust has been introduced as a way to achieve single neuron monitoring and potentially actuation. In parallel to this, the field of optogenetics has emerged where the aim is to stimulate neurons using light, usually by means of optical fibers inserted through the skull. Obviously, this introduces many challenges in terms of user friendliness and biocompatibility. We address this shortcoming by proposing the wireless optogenetic neural dust (wi-opt neural dust). The wiopt neural dust is equipped with a miniature LED that is able to stimulate the genetically engineered neurons, and at the same time harvest energy from ultrasonic vibrations. The simulation results presented in the paper investigates the behaviour of the light propagation in the brain tissue, as well as the performance of designed circuitry for the energy harvesting process. The results demonstrates the feasibility of utilizing wi-opt neural dust for long term implantation in the brain, and a new direction towards precise stimulation of neurons in the cortex.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe