Neural Interfaces: Nanoscience, and Materials Technology

Thursday, January 31, 2019 at 1 PM Eastern Time

Presenter:
Stephen Saddow Ph.D.
Professor Electrical Engineering and Medical Engineering
University of South Florida


Dr. Saddow’s research interests are to develop wide-bandgap semiconductor materials for biomedical applications MEMS/NEMS applications. His group has demonstrated the in-vitro biocompatibility of 3CSiC to numerous cell lines and lately his research has focused on the central nervous system. He was recently appointed to the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology in the USF College of Medicine based on the interdisciplinary nature of this work.

Description: Intracortical neural interfaces (INI) have made impressive progress in recent years and are used to improve our understanding of the nervous system, understand function and disease models, and potentially develop new therapies and devices. A fundamental challenge rests with the implantable electrodes and their biocompatibility and questionable long-term reliability. Nanoscience and nanotechnology can play a key role in developing new approaches and new strategies for neural interfaces. This webinar will focus on studies of silicon carbide (SiC) micromachined semiconductor neural devices and the materials challenges that must be understood and overcome to bring this promising technology to clinical trial.