Medical Engineering Distinguished Seminar Series, Professor Jacob Robinson
Abstract: Miniature implanted devices capable of manipulating and recording biological signals promise to improve the way we study biology and the way we diagnose and treat disease; however, to create an effective bioelectronic network we must overcome myriad engineering challenges. In this talk, I will describe how we can use magnetic materials and magnetic metamaterials to create miniature and minimally invasive neural interfaces. I will also talk about my recent journey translating technological developments from the lab to a neurotech startup where we plan to use neurotechnology to better treat mental health disorders.
Biography: Jacob Robinson is a Professor in Electrical & Computer Engineering and Bioengineering at Rice University, and an Adjunct Professor in Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine. His research group uses nanofabrication technology to create miniature devices to manipulate and monitor neural circuit activity. He received a B.S. in Physics from UCLA in 2003 and a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Cornell University in 2008. He then began a postdoctoral research position in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University, where he created silicon nanowire devices to probe the electrical and chemical activity of living cells. In 2012, he joined the ECE and BioE departments at Rice. Dr. Robinson is a performer on several DARPA neurotech and bioelectronics programs and currently leads one of the N3 teams creating non-surgical neural interfaces. Dr. Robinson is the recipient of the DARPA Young Faculty Award, the Materials Today Rising Star Award, and is a Senior Member of IEEE. He previously served as the co-chair of the IEEE Brain Initiative and a core member of the IEEE Brain Neuroethics working group. He is the co-founder and CEO of Motif Neurotech, a neurotechnology company founded in 2022 out of his work on bioelectronics for wireless management of depression, started at Rice University with collaborators at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, TX.