Engineering the Brain

Photo of Bruce Gluckman and Steven Schiff

One American in six is affected by a neurological illness each year. Neural engineering relies on materials science as well as computation and electrical engineering to attempt to restore brain functions. In the Penn State Center for Neural Engineering, researchers are studying the brain’s electrical system in the hope of controlling the malfunctions of disease such as epilepsy and Parkinson’s.

Pediatric neurosurgeon, Steven Schiff (right), and experimental physicist, Bruce Gluckman (left), are the director and associate director respectively of the Center, which is designed to act as a bridge between the clinical researchers at the Penn State Hershey College of Medicine and the engineering and materials disciplines at the University Park campus.

In the Brain-Machine Interface Lab, students learn to control the movements of objects using the electrical signals generated by their brain captured by electrodes connected to a computer. A second lab is devoted to animal brain slice research in which low frequency electrical fields are applied to neurons to modulate their response. In a third lab, Gluckman builds small implantable electronic circuits to record the firing of single neurons under low frequency.

Using the tools of nanotechnology and microengineering available at Penn State, Schiff and Gluckman hope to speed the progress of neural engineering by developing a better model of the brain. Their research has potential to help the 50 million Americans affected by neurological illnesses, ranging from Alzheimer’s to serious depression to stroke.

Bruce Gluckman, Ph.D., is associate professor of engineering science and mechanics. Steven Schiff, M.D., Ph.D., is Brush Chair professor of engineering.

This research brief was featured in the brochure Biomedical Materials.