3rd Annual Research Symposium Organized by the Center for Neuroengineering and Medicine

The Center for Neuroengineering and Medicine will host its 3rd Annual Research Symposium on Tuesday, May 14, 10:00am-6:45pm, at the UC Davis Conference Center (map) on the Davis campus. 

The symposium will bring together neuroengineering faculty, physician-scientists, clinicians, students, and postdocs from engineering, medicine, neuroscience and other fields to share research results and network with like-minded researchers. Presenters include faculty, graduate students and other trainees at UC Davis. Trainees will compete for awards. We are delighted to have Dr. Maryam Shanechi as keynote speaker. Dr. Shanechi is Dean’s Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Biomedical Engineering, and Neuroscience Graduate Program at the University of Southern California (USC) and Founding Director of the newly established USC Center for Neurotechnology.

Registration is required: tinyurl.com/NeuroengSymposium2024 

The agenda will be made available in late March at this link. 

Call for abstracts

We invite graduate and undergraduate students, postdocs, junior specialists, and other trainees whose work is relevant to neuroengineering (including the research thrusts listed on the Center website here) to submit abstracts and slides. A panel of faculty will review the submissions and invite presenters for oral presentations, and/or poster presentations. The abstract submission guidelines are at this link. A summary slide should be submitted in addition to the abstract, to include: title, your name, a brief outline (1-2 sentences), and 1-2 figures.

Fill out your information HERE (the form includes a link for you to upload your abstract and summary slide).

Important dates

Abstract deadline: 4/8/2024 (extended from the previous date of 3/25/2024) by 11:59pm

Decision announcement: 4/15/2024

Types of presentations:

1. Oral presentation: 12-minute followed by a 3-minute Q&A session.
2. Poster: research poster presentation (in person).

As indicated in the abstract template, you’ll be asked to indicate your preference to be considered for: (1) everything (oral presentation, poster); or (2) poster only. If selected, the committee will specify the type of presentation.

More information

Posters should be a maximum size of 3’x4’. You can get posters printed through Repro Graphics.

Prizes

To recognize the trainees’ work, the Center for Neuroengineering and Medicine will be awarding the following stipends based on assessments by a panel of judges:

1. Best Oral Presentation: $1,000
2. Best Poster Presentation: $750
3. 2nd Best Oral Presentation: $500
4. 2nd Place Poster Presentation: $250

Questions? Send them via email to: gmlee@ucdavis.edu

Symposium Committee: the Center’s Steering Committee (which includes the Center Co-Directors and the Associate Director)

 

Keynote Speaker: Professor Maryam Shanechi, USC

Maryam M. Shanechi, PhD is Dean’s Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Biomedical Engineering, and Neuroscience Graduate Program at the University of Southern California (USC). She is also Founding Director of the newly established USC Center for Neurotechnology. She received her B.A.Sc. degree in Engineering Science from the University of Toronto, her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT, and her postdoctoral training in Neural Engineering and Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School and UC Berkeley. She conducts research at the intersection of engineering, computation, and neuroscience to develop closed-loop neurotechnology and study the brain through decoding and control of neural dynamics. She is the recipient of several awards including the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, NSF CAREER Award, ONR Young Investigator Award, ASEE’s Curtis W. McGraw Research Award, MIT Technology Review’s Top 35 Innovators Under 35, Popular Science Brilliant 10, Science News SN10, One Mind Rising Star Award, and a DoD Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) Award. She is a Fellow of the IEEE and was named a 2023 Blavatnik National Awards Finalist.

Dr. Shanechi's keynote presentation is titled: “AI-based Closed-loop Neurotechnologies for Neurological and Mental Disorders”.

Abstract

I will present our work at the interface of AI, control theory, and neuroscience to develop next-generation brain-machine interfaces that can model, decode, and regulate the activity of large populations of neurons in brain disorders such as major depression. First, I present a dynamical modeling framework that can decode brain states such as mood from human brain network activity. Then, I show how we can also predict the effect of external inputs such as electrical stimulation on brain network activity to enable closed-loop regulation of neural states. I also extend our modeling framework to dissociate behaviorally relevant neural dynamics that can otherwise be missed, such as those during naturalistic movements. I also present how these models can incorporate multiple spatiotemporal scales of brain activity simultaneously. Finally, I discuss the challenge of developing deep learning algorithms for real-time neurotechnologies. I present an artificial neural network that enables accurate and flexible inference of brain states causally, non-causally, and even with missing neural samples, which can happen in wireless brain-machine interfaces. These AI-based models, decoders, and controllers can help restore lost motor and emotional function in millions of patients with brain disorders.   

 

We look forward to seeing you!

Comments or questions? Contact us here!

Parking Information

Please allow 15 minutes for parking. 
    Gateway Parking Structure: http://campusmap.ucdavis.edu/?l=30 
    Visitor Parking VP 1: http://campusmap.ucdavis.edu/?l=32 
    Visitor Parking VP 2: http://campusmap.ucdavis.edu/?l=33 
Parking app:    Use AMP Park App to pay for parking from your phone.

Internet access for visitors and guests: create a UCD-Guest account

The campus offers a UCD-Guest wireless network intended for visitors. To create a guest WiFi account, simply select ucd-guest as your wireless network and follow the instructions when you open your browser.

Symposium Planning Committee 

The committee is composed of members of the Steering Committee of the Center for Neuroengineering and Medicine, the Center Co-Directors, and the Associate Director.