October 2020

Tim gave a Keynote talk at  IEEE Nordic Circuits and Systems Conference (NorCAS) 27 - 28 Oct 2020 (Oslo, Online): watch Future Human: Merging Minds and Machines.
Dorian has been interviewed by Mike Dilke on UK Health Radio, listen to the broadcast.

July 2020

Oscar participated to IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) 20 - 24 Jul 2020 (Online): "Lossless Compression of Intracortical Extracellular Neural Recordings using Non-Adaptive Huffman Encoding" and "Predicting Single-Unit Activity from Local Field Potentials with LSTMs".

June 2020

On June 18th, Tim gave a talk on new advances in bioelectronic medicines in the first in a new series of webinars by KTN’s Neurotechnology.

January 2020

Illuminating the self art installation

This art-meets-science engagement project was supposed to run from January to May 2020, but was cut short due to the 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic. Tim, Izabela and Francesca managed to go visit the gallery before the lockdown. For more info, see the page Out of the Blue.

 

October 2019

IEEE Biomedical Circuits & Systems (BioCAS) Conference

Dorian Haci, Federico Mazza, Nur Ahmadi, Peilong Feng, Bryan Hsieh, Matthew Cavuto, Francesca Troiani and Timothy Constandinou (together with other members of the Centre for Bio-Inspired Technology) attend and present their work at the 2019 IEEE BioCAS Conference in Nara, Japan from 17-19 October 2018. Papers presented by the Next Generation Neural Interfaces Lab include:

• Haci D, Mifsud A, Liu Y, Ghoreishizadeh SS and Constandinou TG, In-body wireline interfacing platform for multi-module implantable microsystems
• Ahmadi N, Constandinou TG and Bouganis C, End-to-End Hand Kinematic Decoding from LFPs Using Temporal Convolutional Network
• Cavuto M, Hallam R, Rapeaux A, Maslik M, Troiani F and Constandinou TG, Live Demonstration: A Public Engagement Platform for Invasive Neural Interfaces
• Feng P, Maslik M and Constandinou TG, EM-Lens Enhanced Power Transfer and Multi-Node Data Transmission for Implantable Medical Devices
• Wong SS, Ekanayake J, Liu Y and Constandinou TG, An impedance probing system for real-time intraoperative brain tumour tissue discrimination
• Hsieh B, Harding EC, Wisden W, Franks NP and Constandinou TG, A Miniature Neural Recording Device to Investigate Sleep and Temperature Regulation in Mice
• Williams I, Rapeaux A, Pearson J, Nazarpour K, Brunton E, Luan S, Liu Y and Constandinou TG, SenseBack – Implant considerations for an implantable neural stimulation and recording device

Bioelectronic Medicines: Past, Present and Future

Lab members (Dorian Haci, Federico Mazza, Nur Ahmadi, Yan Liu and Timothy Constandinou) participated to the symposium Bioelectronic Medicines: Past, Present and Future, held in London on 1 October 2019. 

September 2019

Royal Society iHuman perspective on Neural Interfaces

On 10 September 2019, the Royal Society published its perspective on Neural Interfaces that it identified as a key emerging technology of the future. The report, called “iHuman: blurring lines between mind and machine” is the first piece of work to explore the ethical questions in depth, and is also the first to propose concrete actions – including suggesting ministers should act swiftly to understand the ethical risks and ensure regulations are fit to make the UK a global leader in the field. The perspective was co-chaired by NGNI lab director Timothy Constandinou. 

For further details see the Royal Society press release, full report, and accompanying website.

June 2019

The Great exhibition Road Festival 2019

This year the NGNI lab participated at the Great Exhibition Road Festival on 28–30 June 2019. We have been showcasing our latest interactive demonstrator that immersed the visitors in the debate - Why do we need implantable brain machine interfaces if wearable devices exist? For further details please visit the NGNI @ Festival 2019 Event page.

May 2019

IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems

Members of the NGNI lab will be attending the 2019 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS) in Sapporo, Japan from 26-29 May 2019. Papers to be presented by the NGNI Lab will include:

• Leene L, Letchumanan S, Constandinou TG, A 68 μW 31 Ks/S Fully-Capacitive Noise-Shaping SAR ADC with 102 dB SNDR;
• Leene L, Constandinou TG, A 3rd Order Time Domain Delta Sigma Modulator with Extended-Phase Detection for High Dynamic-Range Bio-Sensing;
• Liu Y, Constandinou TG, Georgiou P, A 32 X 32 ISFET Array with in Pixel Quantisation and Column-Wise TDCs for Ultra-Fast Chemical Sensing;
• Liu Y, Leene L, Constandinou TG, An Oscillator Based Potentiostat with Switch-Cap Feedback for Current Sensing Applications.

March 2019

IEEE EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering

Members of the NGNI lab (Nur Ahmadi, Timothy Constandinou, Dorian Haci, Federico Mazza, Oscar Savolainen) attended the 2019 IEEE EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering (NER) in San Francisco, California from 20-23 March 2019. 

Papers presented include:

• Ahmadi N, Constandinou TG, Bouganis C-S, Decoding Hand Kinematics from Local Field Potentials Using Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) Network;
• Cavuto ML, Constandinou TG, Investigation of Insertion Method to Achieve Chronic Recording Stability of a Semi-Rigid Implantable Neural Probe;
• Ahmadi N, Cavuto ML, Feng P, Leene LB, Maslik M, Mazza F, Savolainen O, Szostak KM, Bouganis C-S, Ekanayake J, Jackson A, Constandinou TG, Towards a Distributed, Chronically-Implantable Neural Interface;
• Haci D, Liu Y, Ghoreishizadeh SS, Constandinou TG, Ground Referencing in Multi-Module Closed-Loop Neuroprostheses: Design Challenges and Trade-offs.

October 2018

IEEE Biomedical Circuits & Systems (BioCAS) Conference

Dorian Haci, Laszlo Grand, Timo Lauteslager, Lieuwe Leene, Yan Liu, Michal Maslik, Federico Mazza, Adrien Rapeaux and Timothy Constandinou (together with other members of the Centre for Bio-Inspired Technology) attend and present their work at the 2018 IEEE BioCAS Conference in Cleveland, Ohio from 17-19 October 2018. Papers presented by the Next Generation Neural Interfaces Lab include:

• Lauteslager T, Tommer M, Lande TS, Constandinou TG, Cross-body UWB radar sensing of arterial pulse propagation and ventricular Dynamics
• Haci D, Liu Y, Nikolic K, Demarchi D, Constandinou TG, Georgiou P, Thermally controlled lab-on-PCB for biomedical applications
• Haci D, Liu Y, Ghoreishizadeh S, Constandinou TG, Design considerations for ground referencing in multi-module neural implants
• Feng P, Constandinou TG, Robust wireless power transfer to multiple mm-scale freely-positioned Neural implants
• De Marcellis A, Di Patrizio Stanchieri G, Palange E, Faccio M, Constandinou TG, An ultra-wideband-inspired system-on-chip for an optical bidirectional transcutaneous biotelemetry
• Moly A, Luan S, Zoltan M, Salimpour Y, Anderson W, Constandinou TG, Grand L, Embedded Phase-Amplitude Coupling Based Closed-Loop Platform for Parkinson's Disease
• Mazza F, Liu Y, Donaldson N, Constandinou TG, Integrated devices for micro-package integrity monitoring in mm-scale neural implants
• Maslik M, Lande TS, Constandinou TG, A clockless method of flicker noise suppression in continuous-time acquisition of biosignals
• Leene L, Constandinou TG, Direct digital wavelet synthesis for embedded biomedical microsystems

2nd IEEE neuroCAS WORKSHOP

Several members (see above) of the Next Generation Neural Interfaces Lab participate in the 2nd IEEE NeuroCAS Workshop (previously BrainCAS) in Cleveland, Ohio from 20-21 October 2018.

July 2018

International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC)

Adrien Rapeaux, Nur Ahmadi, Katarzyna Szostak and Timothy Constandinou attend and present their work at the 2018 Annual Conference of the IEEE EMB Society in Honolulu, Hawaii from 17-21 July 2018. Papers presented by the Next Generation Neural Interfaces Lab include:

• Szostak KM, Constandinou TG, Hermetic packaging for implantable microsystems: effectiveness of sequentially electroplated AuSn
• Ahmadi N, Constandinou TG, Bouganis C, Spike rate estimation using Bayesian Adaptive Kernel Smoother (BAKS) and its application to brain machine interfaces
• Rapeaux A, Brunton E, Nazarpour K, Constandinou TG, Preliminary study of time to recovery of rat sciatic nerve from high frequency alternating current nerve block

• Perra E, Rapeaux A, Nikolic K, The crucial role of nerve depolarisation in high frequency conduction block in mammalian nerves: simulation study

May 2018

IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS)

Bryan Hsieh, Michal Maslik, Lieuwe Leene and Timothy Constandinou (together with other members of the Centre for Bio-Inspired Technology) attend and present their work at the 2018 IEEE ISCAS Conference in Florence, Italy from 27-30 May 2018. Papers presented by the Next Generation Neural Interfaces Lab include:

• Leene L, Maslik M, Feng P, Szostak K, Mazza F, Constandinou TG, Autonomous SoC for neural local field potential recording in mm-scale wireless implants

March 2018

Next Generation Neural Interfaces (NGNI) group away weekend

The NGNI group had its 2018 away weekend from 2-4 March on the south coast at Angmering-by-Sea. This was a great opportunity for us to look at the bigger picture, discuss things we never do, and just spend quality time together. See our highlights on the: 2018 away weekend page.

October 2017

IEEE Biomedical Circuits & Systems (BioCAS) Conference

Andrea Mifsud, Dorian Haci, Federico Mazza, Katarzyna Szostak, Peilong Feng, Yan Liu and Timothy Constandinou (together with other members of the Centre for Bio-Inspired Technology) attend and present their work at the 2017 IEEE BioCAS Conference in Turin, Italy from 19-21 October 2017. Papers presented by the Next Generation Neural Interfaces Lab include:

• Szostak K, Mazza F, Maslik M, Feng P, Leene L, Constandinou TG, Microwire-CMOS Integration of mm-Scale Neural Probes for Chronic Local Field Potential Recording
• Feng P, Constandinou TG, Yeon P, Ghovanloo M, Millimeter-Scale Integrated and Wirewound Coils for Powering Implantable Neural Microsystems (received the 3rd best paper award)
• Mifsud A, Haci D, Ghoreishizadeh S, Liu Y, Constandinou TG, Adaptive Power Regulation and Data Delivery for Multi-Module Implants
• De Marcellis A, Palange E, Faccio M, Stanchieri GDP, Constandinou TG, A 250Mbps 24pJ/bit UWB-inspired Optical Communication System for Bioimplants
• Luo J, Firfilionis D, Ramezani R, Dehkhoda F, Soltan A, Degenaar P, Liu Y, Constandinou TG, Live demonstration: a closed-loop cortical brain implant for optogenetic curing epilepsy

June 2017

World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting of the New Champions (AMNC17)

Dr Timothy Constandinou participated in the 2017 Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Dalian, China from 27-29 June 2017. During the event he contributed to the "Unpacking New Medical Paradigms with Imperial College London" IdeasLab and also a ScienceHub feature on "Empowering Next Generation Implantable Brain Machine Interfaces". See talk on YouTube.

May 2017

IEEE International Symposium on Circuits & Systems (ISCAS) Conference

Dorian Haci, Michal Maslik, Lieuwe Leene, Onur Guven and Timothy Constandinou (together with other members of the Centre for Bio-Inspired Technology) attend and present their work at the 2017 IEEE ISCAS Conference in Baltimore, USA from 28-31 May 2017. Papers presented by the Next Generation Neural Interfaces Lab include:

• Dávila-Montero S, Barsakcioglu DY, Jackson A, Constandinou TG, Mason AJ, Real-time clustering algorithm that adapts to dynamic changes in neural recordings
• Gao C, Ghoreishizadeh S, Liu Y, Constandinou TG, On-chip ID generation for multi-node implantable devices using SA-PUF
• Guven O, Eftekhar A, Kindt W, Constandinou TG, Low-power real-time ECG baseline wander removal: hardware implementation
• Haci D, Liu Y, Constandinou TG, 32-channel ultra-low-noise arbitrary signal generation platform for biopotential emulation
• Leene L, Constandinou TG, A 0.5V time-domain instrumentation circuit with clocked and unclocked ΔΣ operation
• Maslik M, Liu Y, Lande TS, Constandinou TG, A charge-based ultra-low power continuous-time ADC for data driven neural spike processing

January 2017

Behind the Scenes @ NGNI

The Next Generation Neural Interfaces (NGNI) lab hosted a "Behind the Scenes" event for Friends of Imperial College on the evening of 25th January 2017. This event included a welcome and seminar on neural interfaces, lab tours and research demonstrations, and an interactive poster session with the entire group. For photos and further details see the "Behind the Scenes @ NGNI" Event page.

December 2016

Presidents Award for Excellence in Research Supervision

Timothy Constandinou receives the President’s Award for Excellence in Research Supervision. The award celebrates and acknowledges staff who are considered to have made an outstanding contribution towards a supportive environment.  

October 2016

IEEE Biomedical Circuits & Systems (BioCAS) Conference

Adrien Rapeaux, Timo Lauteslager, Zach Frehlick, Laszlo Grand, Lieuwe Leene, Yan Liu, and Timothy Constandinou (together with other members of the Centre for Bio-Inspired Technology) attend and present their work at the 2016 IEEE BioCAS Conference in Shanghai, China from 17-19 October 2016. Papers presented by the Next Generation Neural Interfaces Lab include:

• Luan S, Liu Y, Williams, I, Constandinou, TG, An Event-Driven SoC for Neural Recording
• Frehlick Z, Williams I, Constandinou TG, Improving Neural Spike Sorting Performance Using Template Enhancement
• Leene L, Constandinou TG, A 2.7uW/Mips, 0.88GOPS/mm^2 Distributed Processor for Implantable Brain Machine Interfaces
• Ramezani R, Dehkhoda F, Soltan A, Degenaar P, Liu Y, Constandinou TG, An optrode with built-in self-diagnostic and fracture sensor for cortical brain stimulation
• Williams I, Rapeaux A, Liu Y, Luan S, Constandinou TG, A 32-Channel Bidirectional Neural/EMG Interface with on-Chip Spike Detection for Sensorimotor Feedback
• Lauteslager T, Tommer M, Kjelgard KG, Lande TS, Constandinou TG, Intracranial Heart Rate Detection Using UWB Radar (received the best paper award)

1ST IEEE BRAINCAS WORKSHOP

Several members (see above) of the Next Generation Neural Interfaces Lab participate in the 1st IEEE BrainCAS Workshop in Hangzhou, China from 20-21 October 2016.

July 2016

FENS Forum of Neuroscience

Ian Williams, Nicoletta Nicolaou and Timothy Constandinou (together with other members of the Centre for Bio-Inspired Technology) attend and present their work at the 2016 Forum of Neuroscience in Copenhagen, Denmark from 2-6 July 2016. Papers presented by the Next Generation Neural Interfaces Lab include:

• Luan S, Williams I, Carvalho F, Jackson A, Quiroga RQ, Constandinou TG, Next Generation Neural Interfaces for low-power multichannel spike sorting (including a live demonstration of the platform - see Figure)
• Nicolaou N, Constandinou TG, Phase-Amplitude Coupling during propofol-induced sedation: an exploratory approach

May 2016

BRAIN Forum

Timo Lauteslager, Dorian Haci, and Federico Mazza attend the 2016 Brain Forum from 26-27 May 2016 in Lausanne, Switzerland.

IEEE INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON CIRCUITS & SYSTEMS

Lieuwe Leene, Deren Barsakcioglu and Timothy Constandinou (together with other members of the Centre for Bio-Inspired Technology) attend and present their work at the 2016 IEEE ISCAS Conference in Montreal, Canada from 22-26 May 2016. Papers presented by the Next Generation Neural Interfaces Lab include:

• Barsakcioglu DY, Constandinou TG, A 32-Channel MCU-Based Feature Extraction and Classification for Scalable on-Node Spike Sorting
• Elia M, Leene L, Constandinou TG, Continuous-Time Micropower Interface for Neural Recording Applications
• Liu Y, Pereira J, Constandinou TG, Clockless Continuous-Time Neural Spike Sorting: Method, Implementation and Evaluation

February 2016

Radar body sensing

On February 29, NGNI members Nicoletta Nicolaou and Timo Lauteslager attended a seminar on Radar body sensing at The University of Oslo. This hands-on technical event was aimed at coordinating efforts on brain-imaging using radar technology between main partners Imperial College London, University of Oslo and the company Novelda. Besides the exchange of ideas and presentation of experimental results, Novelda presented an updated version of the ultra-wideband impulse radar module. With increased power and reduced noise, we are now more confident that functional neuroimaging lies within reach.

SPIE Photonics West 2016

Francesca Troiani attended and presented her work at the 2016 SPIE BIOS Conference in San Francisco, USA from 13-18 February 2016:

• Troiani F, Nikolic K, Constandinou TG, Optical Coherence Tomography for detection of compound action potential in Xenopus Laevis sciatic nerve

January 2016

ANAEWARE CLINICAL TRIALS SITE ADDITION

The AnaeWARE clinical trials have been extended to Chelsea & Westminster Hospital and the study will be open for recruitment in February. Together with our collaborator, Dr. Marcela Vizcaychipi, we plan to continue our investigations on the effect of anaesthetics, with emphasis on the cardiovascular system. The two study sites offer complementary anaesthetic protocols and patient samples.

December 2015

IEEE BRAIN INITIATIVE

Timothy Constandinou attended and represented the IEEE Circuits & Systems (CAS) Society at the 1st IEEE BRAIN Initiative Workshop at Columbia University, New York on 14th December 2015. He presented the technical activities and some research highlights of IEEE CAS Society members relevant to IEEE BRAIN. For more details see the following IEEE article.

The IEEE BRAIN Initiative was formed last year with a mission to create workshops, develop standards, and interact with industry, governments, and academia to leverage the expertise of IEEE in order to advance world-wide efforts in brain research and neurotechnology development.

November 2015

SCIENCE MUSEUM CREATIVE QUARTER

Lorena Freitas, Dorian Haci, Timo Lauteslager, Adrien Rapeaux and Nicoletta Nicolaou talk about their work in Brain Machine Interfaces at the Creative Quarter event on 13 November 2016 at the Science Museum. 

This event was aimed at giving 13-19 year olds access to some of the latest developments in the creative industries, and to provide an overview of different education and career pathways young people can follow.

October 2015

IEEE BIOMEDICAL CIRCUITS & SYSTEMS (BIOCAS) CONFERENCE

Timo Lauteslager, Song Luan, Ian Williams, Yan Liu, Nicoletta Nicolaou and Timothy Constandinou (together with other members of the Centre for Bio-Inspired Technology) attend and present their work at the 2015 IEEE BioCAS Conference in Atlanta, US from 22-24 October 2016. Paper(s) presented by the Next Generation Neural Interfaces Lab include:

• Williams I, Luan S, Jackson A, Constandinou TG,  "A Scalable 32 Channel Neural Recording and Real-time FPGA Based Spike Sorting System". For further details see resources pages.
• Lauteslager T, Nicolaou N, Lande TS, Constandinou TG, "Functional neuroimaging Using UWB Impulse Radar: a Feasibility Study". For further details see: UWB-IR functional neuroimaging project page.
• Zhao H, Dehkhoda F, Ramezani R, Sokolov D, Constandinou TG, Liu Y, Degenaar P, "A CMOS-Based Neural Implantable Optrode for Optogenetic Stimulation and Electrical Recording". For further details see CANDO project page and CANDO website.
  

August 2015

EPSRC FELLOWSHIP "ENGINI" BEGINS

After over a year of planning, Timothy Constandinou's 5-year/£1m, EPSRC Early Career Fellowship entitled "Empowering Next Generation Implantable Neural Interfaces" formally began on 1 August 2016. Katarzyna Szostak-Lipowicz also joins the team bringing key expertise in microengineering. Over the next year we will be recruiting to complete the team. For further details see: Imperial News item, Fellowship site, EPSRC page.

37TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY (EMBS)

Adrien Rapeaux and Stephen Woods attend and present their work at the 2015 IEEE EMBS Conference in Milan, Italy from 25-29 August 2015. Paper(s) presented by the Next Generation Neural Interfaces Lab include:

• Rapeaux A, Nikolic K, Williams I, Eftekhar A, Constandinou TG, "Fiber size-selective stimulation using action potential filtering for a peripheral nerve interface: a simulation study". For further details see SenseBack project page and SenseBack website.
• Woods S, Constandinou TG, "A novel holding mechanism for next generation active wireless capsule endoscopy"

June 2015

ANAEWARE CLINICAL TRIALS BEGIN

The AnaeWARE study opens for recruitment at the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (Hammersmith Hospital). Eligible adult patients scheduled for elective surgery are invited to participate. The study focuses on identifying how anaesthetics affect the body by investigating changes in the relationships between different signals that are routinely monitored during surgery, with the addition of electrical brain activity (EEG) collected via a commercially available system. Patient participation involves giving us permission to record and store these signals in an anonymous database, and to analyse these signals offline. We are hoping that the data collected during this clinical trial will allow us to further characterise the action of anaesthetics on the body as a whole and identify “signatures” of loss /recovery of awareness that could potentially allow us to even predict the onset of awareness in a patient.

For more details see the AnaeWARE project page.

May 2015

IEEE INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON CIRCUITS & SYSTEMS

Dorian Haci, Lieuwe Leene, Adrien Rapeaux and Timothy Constandinou attend and present their work at the 2015 IEEE ISCAS Conference in Lisbon, Portugal from 24-27 May 2015. Paper(s) presented by the Next Generation Neural Interfaces Lab include:

• Faliagkas K, Leene L, Constandinou TG, "A Novel Neural Recording System Utilising Continuous Time Energy Based Compression". For further details see: Next Generation Neural Interfaces project page.

SENSEBACK BEGINS

SenseBack formally began on 1 May 2015. SenseBack is a multi-site, cross-disciplinary project to develop enabling technologies to restore sensory feedback in assistive devices, such as prosthetic hands. This three year, £1.44M IDEAS Factory project, is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). SenseBack is led by Newcastle University and involves experts from the universities of Leeds, Essex, Keele, Southampton and our team at Imperial College London.

April 2015

New Next Generation Neural Interfaces website went live on 24 April 2015: www.imperial.ac.uk/neural-interfaces

March 2015

SCIENCE MUSEUM FESTIVAL "YOU HAVE BEEN UPGRADED"

Ian Williams, Deren Barsakcioglu and Timothy Constandinou participated in the 4-day Science Museum Festival from 25-29 March 2015 entitled "You have been upgraded" on the theme of human enhancement, showcasing our latest brain machine interfaces and implantable devices. For further details see Science Museum page.

BRAIN FORUM

Francesca Troiani, Lieuwe Leene and Timothy Constandinou attended the Brain Forum from 30-31 March 2015 in Lausanne, Switzerland.