Neural engineering is a discipline that uses engineering techniques to understand, repair, replace, enhance, or treat the diseases of neural systems. Neural engineers are uniquely qualified to solve design problems at the interface of living neural tissue and non-living constructs.

Overview

This branch of bioengineering draws on the fields of computational neuroscience, experimental neuroscience, clinical neurology, electrical engineering and signal processing of living neural tissue, and encompasses elements from robotics, cybernetics, computer engineering, neural tissue engineering, materials science, and nanotechnology.

Prominent goals in the field include restoration and augmentation of human function via direct interactions between the nervous system and artificial devices.

Much current research is focused on understanding the coding and processing of information in the sensory and motor systems, quantifying how this processing is altered in the pathological state, and how it can be manipulated through interactions with artificial devices including brain-computer interfaces and neuroprosthetics.

Other research concentrates more on investigation by experimentation, including the use of neural implants connected with external technology.

The scope of the field is broad and includes specific areas such as brain-computer interface, neural interfacing, neurotechnology, neuroelectronics, neuromodulation, neuroprosthesics, neural control, neurorehabilitation, neurodiagnostics, neurotherapeutics, neuromechanical systems, neurorobotics, neuroinformatics, neuroimaging, neural circuitry (both artificial and biological), neuromorphic engineering, neural tissue regeneration, neurobioengineering, neural signal processing, theoretical neuroscience, computational neuroscience, systems neuroscience and translational neuroscience.

History

As neural engineering is a relatively new field, information and research relating to it is comparatively limited, although this is changing rapidly. The first journals specifically devoted to neural engineering, The Journal of Neural Engineering and The Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation both emerged in 2004. International conferences on neural engineering have been held by the IEEE since 2003, most recently from 2 May until 5 May 2007 in Hawaii.

References

• Neuroengineering (2007) ISBN 978-0849381744
• Neural Engineering (Bioelectric Engineering) (2005) ISBN 978-0306486098
• Operative Neuromodulation: Volume 1: Functional Neuroprosthetic Surgery. An Introduction (2007) ISBN 978-3211330784
• Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson's Disease (2007) ISBN 978-0849370199
• Handbook of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery (2003) ISBN 978-0824707200
• Neural Prostheses: Fundamental Studies (1990) ISBN 978-0136154440
• IEEE Handbook of Neural Engineering (2007) ISBN 978-0470056691
• Foundations on Cellular Neurophysiology (1995) ISBN 978-0262100533

See also

• Brain-computer interface
• Cybernetics
• Cyberware
• Neuroprosthetics

External links

Journals

• IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering
• IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering
• The Journal of Neural Engineering

Conferences

• 1st International Conference on Neural Engineering, 2003
• 2nd International Conference on Neural Engineering, 2005
• 3rd International Conference on Neural Engineering, 2007 (old link?)

University laboratories

• Neural Engineering Center, Case Western Reserve University
• Neural Engineering & Informatics Laboratory, Dartmouth
• The Neuroengineering and Neuromedia Group, MIT
• Center for Neural Engineering, Penn State
• Neural Prosthetic Systems Laboratory, Stanford University
• Cellular Neural Engineering, UC San Diego
• Brain Computer Interfaces Group, University of Essex - UK
• Neural Engineering Laboratory, University of Michigan
• Center for Neural Interfaces, University of Utah

Purdue University

• Brain Computer Interface Lab
• NeuroProstheses Research Lab
• Rickus Research Group