Ed Boyden, Ph. D.
MIT Media Lab, Benesse Career Development Professor
Synthetic Neurobiology (Neuromedia) Group, Leader
MIT Media Lab Center for Human Augmentation, codirector
MIT Department of Biological Engineering, MIT
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, joint
professor
MIT McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT
Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, associate
member
MIT Computational and Systems Biology Initiative, MIT
Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience Track, faculty
member
MIT Microsystems Technology Laboratories, affiliate
member
curriculum vitae / resume
email esb@media.mit.edu
Our brains and nervous systems mediate everything we
perceive, feel, decide, and do--and act as our ultimate
interface to the world. An outstanding challenge for
humanity is to understand these neuromedia interfaces at
a level of abstraction that enables us to engineer their
functions--repairing pathology, augmenting cognition,
and revealing insights into the human condition.
The Synthetic Neurobiology group invents and applies
tools to analyze and engineer brain circuits in both
humans and model systems. Our current
neuroengineering focus is on devising technologies for
controlling the processing within specific neural circuit
targets in the brain, deriving abstraction layers for
systematically correcting neurological and psychiatric
disorders. Many of these tools involve "optogenetic"
technologies that we have developed for sensitizing
neurons to being controlled with light.
We hope that this synthetic neurobiology approach to the
brain will help us better understand--and engineer
improvements upon--the nature of human existence.
NEWS
I was named to Discover Magazine's "20 Best Brains
Under 40."
Want to support new, systematic approaches for
treating neural disorders?
Interested in research or technical jobs in the
Synthetic Neurobiology Group?
We have recently been profiled in the Discovery
Channel's Best 5 Science Moments of the Year, and
awarded a NIH Director's New Innovator Award, an
inaugural Society for Neuroscience 'Research Award for
Innovation in Neuroscience', an Alfred P. Sloan Research
Fellowship, a NARSAD Young Investigator Award, a
Wallace H. Coulter Early Career Award, and a slot in
Technology Review's Top 35 Innovators Under Age 35.
Technologies for
controlling neural
circuit dynamics
Lentivirus
production protocol
for in vivo neural
gene targeting
Millisecondtimescale
optical control
of neural
dynamics in the
nonhuman
primate brain
Simple
hardware
platforms for
bi-directional
optical control
of neurons and
excitable cells
Multiple-color
optical
activation,
silencing, and
desynchronizati
on of neural
activity
("optogenetics"
),
with
halorhodopsin
(Halo, NpHR)
and
Channelrhodop
sin-2 (ChR2)
Millisecondtimescale
optical
activation of
neurons with
ChR2
("optogenetics"
)
OpenStim
Noninvasive Brain
Stimulator - open
transcranial magnetic
stimulation (TMS)
Blog
Classes
Inventions
My Blog, hosted by Neurotechnolog Principles of
Technology Review y Ventures
Neuroengineeri
MAS.883 /
ng MAS.881 /
9.455 / 15.128 / 9.422 / 20.452
20.454 (Fall
(Fall 2008)
2008)
Medical
devices,
information
technologies,
and uses for
physics
Task-specific neural mechanisms of memory encoding
Selective engagement Differential
of plasticity
generalization of
mechanisms for
oppositely-directed
Distributed plasticity Mechanistic
for information
interaction of old and
encoding
new encoded
motor memory
storage
learned changes
memories
The physics of computation, and the computation of physics
3D mouse
interface using
electric fields
and OpenGL
Tabletop NMR FPGA-based RF
quantum
tag reader
computing
(Master's thesis)
(Master's thesis)
MEMS
accelerometer
using quantum
tunneling
A physics-based 'Everything I
animation engine learned at MIT'
Tree-based
Control software
machine learning for the MIT
for violin physics ORCA
simulation
autonomous
submarine
Photographs from selected adventures
Southwest U.S., Thailand, 2002
2001
Point Reyes, CA, Monterey, CA
2002, 2003
Mendocino, CA,
2003
San Juan Islands, Patagonia, Chile, Kauai, Hawaii,
Seattle, WA,
2004
2006
2003
Useful resources
Conversion Factors, Material Properties and Constants
phone 617 324-3085 - fax 617 253-7035 - address Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- MIT Media Lab - Room E15-430 - 20 Ames St. - Cambridge, MA 02139
Copyright © 1995-present, Ed Boyden
Mark S. Humayun , MD
Professor
Dr. Humayun completed his medical degree at Duke University Medical School.
While in his residency training at Duke Eye Center, Dr. Humayun earned his Ph.D.
in Biomedical Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He
completed his fellowship training in vitreoretinal disease at the Wilmer
Ophthalmological Institute at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Humayun served most recently at
the Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute at Johns Hopkins as an Associate Professor
and as Director of the Intraocular Retinal Prosthesis Lab. The focus of this lab is to
develop a retinal implant for the blind. He has had a close working relationship with
Biomedical Engineering and a number of national labs such as Naval Research
Laboratory and Oakridge National Laboratory.
CONTACT
INFORMATION
1450 San Pablo Street
DEI 3615
Los Angeles, CA 90033
Phone: 323-442-6335
Fax: 323-442-6519
E-mail:
humayun@usc.edu
Robert F. Kirsch, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Office:
Phone:
Fax:
Email:
Mail
Address:
Room 115 Wickenden Building
(216)-368-3158 / 216 778-4139
(216)-368-4969 / 216 778-4259
rfk3@case.edu
Room 309 Wickenden Building
10900 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44106-7207
Selected links:
• Department of Biomedical Engineering
• PubMed Citations >>
Research Summary
My research focuses on the mechanics and control of human movement. In this
work, I study the properties of the intact body to determine basic mechanical
properties and to understand how the nervous system normally controls
movement. I also study individuals with neurological disorders such as spinal
cord injury to determine how to restore movements using electrical stimulation of
paralyzed muscles and/or surgical procedures such as muscle tendon transfers.
Current projects are focusing on restoring shoulder movements to individuals
with cervical spinal cord injuries, providing individuals with paraplegia with the
ability to stand without assistance, and understanding the natural neural control of
human shoulder and elbow movements. Several different methods are used to
study these issues, including computer-based modeling of the human
shoulder/elbow and of the human lower extremities/trunk, artificial neural
networks to implement nonlinear feedforward controller elements, and system
identification to characterize the stiffness properties of the human arm. My
research is supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Spinal Cord
Research Foundation, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Whitaker
Foundation.