Student project: Design of a Stimulation Artefact Suppression Technique for Concurrent Neural Stimulation and Recording

*Important for non-EU students: You'll need to be registered at a Dutch university to meet immigration requirements.

Develop next-generation artefact suppression techniques to unlock reliable neural recording during electrical stimulation.

What you will do

Simultaneous electrical stimulation and neural recording through closely spaced electrode contacts is a major challenge in the development of closed-loop bidirectional neural interfaces. Electrical stimulation generates large artefacts in the recording front-end, which can obscure the weak neural signals of interest and may cause amplifier saturation, prolonged recovery times, and loss of valuable neural data.

The challenge becomes particularly demanding when neural activity must be recorded from the same electrode contact used for stimulation or, from a neighbouring contact located on the same catheter or cuff electrode. In such configurations, the recording electrode is exposed to large stimulation-induced voltage transients due to the close proximity of the stimulation and recording sites.

The aim of this research project is to design and investigate a stimulation artefact suppression technique that enables neural recording during electrical stimulation, while minimising signal distortion, amplifier saturation, and signal recovery time. The project will explore potential hardware- and/or signal-processing-based approaches to provide suppression of stimulation artefacts and an immediate and accurate recovery of the underlying neural activity.

Student tasks will include:

• Literature review.
• Become familiar with the available stimulation and recording systems, including custom imec ASICs and bidirectional neural interface devices.
• Become familiar with the existing in-vivo experimental setup and the associated stimulation and recording procedures.
• Design and implement a prototype artefact suppression system, followed by electrical testing and verification.
• Characterise the performance of the proposed technique, including artefact suppression effectiveness, signal integrity, and stimulation artefact recovery time.
• Benchmark the proposed solution against state-of-the-art stimulation artefact suppression techniques.
• Develop or modify firmware and software functionalities as required to support the implementation and evaluation of the proposed technique.
• Design and conduct experimental evaluations of the selected artefact suppression strategy, using appropriate electrical test setups and, where applicable, in-vivo experiments.
• Evaluate feasibility of translation of the chosen architecture towards ASIC implementation
• Prepare technical reports/documentation and, depending on results, write a paper.

What we do for you

• You will be working on state-of-the-art technology and tools for low channel count stimulation and sensing of neural tissue, that can be deployed to improve efficacy of neuromodulation treatments in the healthcare domain or for BCI control.
• You will be working in an inspiring high-tech environment, located within the Holst Centre in Eindhoven, and part of the larger IMEC organization, world-leader in R&D on nanotechnology and electronics.
• You will receive support from experienced researchers having diverse background relevant for the execution of the project.
• You will be a member of our multi-disciplinary team of researchers, engineers and innovators, and will be offered an opportunity to contribute to our ambitious aims in making real impact on actual healthcare needs.

Who you are

• Excellent MSc student in Electrical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering or equivalent.
• You are entitled to do an internship in The Netherlands (have EU nationality and/or currently study at Dutch University).
• Available for 9 months or longer.
• Have good experience in electronic system design and evaluation (e.g., PCB design in Altium).
• Experience in firmware/software development, particularly microcontroller/FPGA programming.
• Have experience in performing circuit simulations using a commercial package (e.g., LTSpice and/or Tina TI).
• Have experience with lab instrumentation (e.g., signal generators, oscilloscopes).
• Experience in signal processing, especially processing of bio-signals, is a plus.
• Experience in ASIC design is a plus.
• Eager to take ownership for your student project.
• Have a structured way of working.
• Have good command of spoken and written English.
  
  

Interested

Does this position sound like an interesting next step in your career at imec? Don’t hesitate to submit your application by clicking on ‘APPLY’.
Should you have more questions about the job, you can contact jobs@imec.nl.