Speaker: Silvestro Micera, PhD, Professor of Bioelectronics at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (SSSA, Pisa, Italy) and at the EPFL (Lausanne, Switzerland)
Abstract: Neuroengineering is a novel discipline combining engineering including micro and nanotechnology, electrical and mechanical, and computer science with cellular, molecular, cognitive neuroscience with two main goals: (i) increase our basic knowledge of how the nervous system works; (ii) develop systems able to restore functions in people affected by different types of neural disability. In the past years, several breakthroughs have been reached by neuroengineers in particular on the development of neurotechnologies able to restore sensorimotor functions in disabled people. In this presentation, I will provide several examples on how implantable interfaces can be used to restore sensory (tactile, position and thermal feedback for hand prostheses, vision), motor (grasping, locomotion), and autonomic functions (for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular problems) and how they can be used also to understand cognitive functions such as language and decision making.
About the Speaker: Dr. Silvestro Micera is currently Professor of Bioelectronics at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (SSSA, Pisa, Italy) and at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (Lausanne, Switzerland) where he is holding the Bertarelli Foundation Chair in Translational NeuroEngineering. He was the recipient of the “Early Career Achievement Award” and of the “Technical Achievement Award” of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society in 2009 and 2021, respectively. Dr. Micera’s research interests include the development of neuroprostheses based on the use of implantable neural interfaces with the central and peripheral nervous systems to restore sensory and motor function in disabled persons. In particular, he is currently involved in translational experiments for hand prosthesis control in amputees, and the restoration of vestibular function, grasping and locomotion in different neurological disorders. He is author of more than 400 WoS peer-reviewed papers and several international patents. He is also member of several editorial boards of peer-reviewed journals in the fields of biomedical and neural engineering.