I-Corps: Roadmap to Commercialization for Electric Field Encephalography

Northeastern University, Boston MA

Investigators

Abstract

The I-Corps team is developing an electric field measurement technology for brain signal monitoring. This technology is a system of measuring and analyzing the electric fields generated by the brain arising from intrinsic activity or external stimuli. It is comprised of a system of high density array of sensors, accompanied by electronics and signal processing algorithms. This technique used through this technology has several advantages over current modalities, Electroencephalography (measuring the electric potential on the scalp) and Magneto-encephalography (measuring the magnetic field). This technology has higher spatial resolution, is unaffected by stray magnetic fields, does not cryogenic equipment and improves source reconstruction precision. Technologies developed through this project have the potential to provide new information for understanding brain activity and obtaining clues to a variety of neurological disorders. The technology developed through this project is a new brain signal measurement system for researchers and clinicians, which would be cost-effective and fully portable/mobile. The ability to measure bioelectric brain signals at high spatial resolution and in a user-friendly manner may lead to new civilian and military applications. Some of the immediate areas of impact of this technology could include: Functional brain imaging at high temporal and spatial resolution, pattern recognition, cognition; insights into neural correlates of vision and speech; again, sleep, epilepsy and mental health research and applications; military applications of traumatic brain injury, war-fighter performance assessment and enhancement and; human-machine and brain-computer interfaces.