Events Calendar

Gianluca Lazzi - Thursday, March 30th at 10:30am in EEB 132

Speaker: Dr. Gianluca Lazzi, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Utah

Talk Title: Bioelectromagnetics for Neuroimplants: from Wireless Power and Data Transfer to Direct Neurostimulation

Abstract: During the past decade, we have witnessed remarkable progress in neural implants, and more generally in the development of systems that interface with the human body for recording neural activity or vital signs or stimulating the neural system. The challenges toward the development of true biomimetic systems are daunting: nonetheless, electrical or magnetic systems that can partially restore neural functions or offer therapeutic solutions have recently shown tremendous progress and potential. Prospects for electroneural interfaces to further evolve and offer a viable solution to various disorders are high.
In this talk, we will utilize examples of electric and magnetic neurostimulators, such as the artificial retina to restore partial vision to the blind, cortical neurostimulators, and magnetic peripheral neurostimulators, to introduce advances in computational bioelectromagnetics and physical neurointerfaces that enabled the progress of neurostimulating and neurorecording systems, with particular emphasis on coil-based systems for wireless power and data transfer, direct magnetic neurostimulation, multiscale computational models and methods, and liquid metal based stretchable systems.

Biography: Gianluca Lazzi, PhD, MBA, is a USTAR Professor and the Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at the University of Utah.
Gianluca is a Fellow of the IEEE and a Fellow of the AIMBE. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the IEEE Wheeler Award, a R&D100 Award, a URSI Young Scientist Award, the BEMS "Curtis Carl Johnson Award," a NSF CAREER Award and a Whitaker Foundation Young Investigator Award. His research interests are in the fields of bioelectromagnetics, liquid metal electronics, antennas, wireless electromagnetics, and electric and magnetic neurostimulation. He has published over 200 papers in journals, conference proceedings, and books. Gianluca's research work has been featured in publications such as Forbes, the Economist, MSNBC, MIT Technology Review, and several others. Gianluca has been the Editor-in-Chief (EiC) from 2008 to 2013 of one of the leading journals in the field of antennas and propagation, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters (AWPL), which reached nearly 2,000 submissions in 2013 during his tenure - a growth of 400% in submissions. He serves or served IEEE in numerous other roles, including being the Chair of the IEEE Sensors Technical Achievement Award Committee (2011-2012), Chair of the IEEE Sensors Council Fellow Committee (2013-2015), Chair of Publications of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (2013-Present), a member of AdCom of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (2014-Present), and a member of the Editorial Board of the Proceedings of the IEEE (2011-Present). He was one of the speakers at a recent Grand Challenges in Life Science Symposium, held at the National Academies, which resulted in the position paper "Grand Challenges in Interfacing Engineering With Life Sciences and Medicine" published in IEEE TBME. He was the General Co-Chair of the 2014 IEEE Microwave Symposium on RF and Wireless Technologies for Biomedical Applications (London, UK).
In 2015, Dr. Lazzi cofounded the company Bend LLC with a private equity firm. Bend LLC is focused on the commercialization of liquid metal technology for sensor integration in athletic apparel and consumer electronics.




Host: EE-Electrophysics

Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Marilyn Poplawski