Events Calendar

Analog Circuit Design in Biomedical Engineering

Christopher D. SalthouseMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyAnalog circuits can be used to solve a variety of problems in biomedical engineering. This talk will present projects from two different areas: a micropower cochlear implant and a fluorescence based imaging technology. Cochlear implants have already given hearing to more than 100,000 deaf patients by directly stimulating nerves in the inner ear, but patients are burdened by battery lives as short as 9 hours. A mixed signal integrated circuit including subthreshold analog signal processing and micropower digital blocks performs the same functions as a commercial DSP solution using only four percent of the power. In biomedical imaging, high-speed analog sampling circuits are used in ratiometric fluorescent-lifetime imaging(RFLI). Unlike the steady-state fluorescence imaging being used in research laboratories today, RFLI uses dual fluorophore probes to measure enzyme activity independent of probe concentration and tissue attenuation. Discrete analog circuits are used to deliver nanosecond pulses from a diode laser and sample the fluorescence signal with subnanosecond temporal resolution to independently measure the signal from two fluorophores at the same wavelength. This technique will be demonstrated in vitro in a time domain fluorimeter(TDF) and in a mouse model using a small animal lifetime imager(SALI).Biography:
Christopher Salthouse received his bachelor and master of electrical engineering degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000. He finished his Ph.D. in electrical engineering with Prof. Rahul Sarpeshkar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2006. Since 2006, he has been working as a research fellow in the Center for Molecular Imaging Research at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School.

Location: Hedco Neurosciences Building (HNB) - 100

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Ericka Lieberknecht