BEARS 2019: Rikky Muller

Intelligent implants for treating neurological disease

Berkeley Annual Research Symposium (BEARS) 2019

Rikky Muller

Abstract

Neural interface technologies stand to revolutionize disease care for patients with neurological conditions and in the future, the human experience. Today, implantable neurostimulation devices have seen widespread adoption in the treatment of motor disorders, OCD, epilepsy, and more. Clinical neurostimulators have few channels and provide simple electrical pulses that are programmed by a doctor in a process that can take months or even years. In this talk I will present advances in neuromodulation technology that combines high channel count neural recording with stimulation in a truly closed-loop manner for the first time. This technology will enable patient-specific therapies that will result in improved outcomes and reduced side effects. I will also describe our recent efforts to shrink this technology to the millimeter and micron scales, enabling safe, sustained use with minimally invasive implantation.

Biography

Rikky Muller, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS) at the University of California, Berkeley. She is Co-director of the Berkeley Wireless Research Center (BWRC), a Core Member of the Center for Neural Engineering and Prostheses (CNEP) and an Investigator at the Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub. Her research group focuses on emerging implantable medical devices and in developing low-power, wireless microelectronic and integrated systems for neurological applications. Prof. Muller is also the Co-founder of Cortera Neurotechnologies, Inc. a medical device company founded in 2013 that is commercializing a neural implant device and has released a family of products for the animal neuroscience research market. At Cortera, she held positions as CEO and CTO.