Invited speaker: Hyeon-Min Bae

Title: Development and applications of portable functional brain imaging system using near-infrared spectroscopy

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is an effective and non-invasive functional brain imaging method. Neuronal activities of the brain are strongly coupled with the hemodynamics in the local cerebral cortex and the hemodynamics can be extracted by using the fact that the absorption spectra of oxy hemoglobin (HbO) and deoxy hemoglobin (HbR) differs in the near-infrared region of the spectrum. The fNIRS retrieves the hemodynamics by monitoring the variations in the optical signal power traveling through the cerebral cortex of the brain. The fNIRS has an apparent advantage over functional magnetic resonant imaging (fMRI) in terms of cost and portability. However, the inherent limitation of the spatial resolution of the fNIRS restricts its widespread use in clinical applications. In addition, the conventional fNIRS devices have yet to utilize its potential for portability to the fullest extent. In this talk, an ASIC-based highly portable real-time brain-imaging system with 4mm spatial resolution will be presented. The technical improvements are achieved by joint optimization of hemodynamic extraction algorithm and high-SNR circuitry.

 

Biography

Hyeon-Min Bae received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, in 1998 and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA, in 2001 and 2004, respectively. From 1995 to 1996, he served his military duty in Dokdo in the East Sea. From 2001 to 2007, he led the analog and mixed-signal design aspects of OC-192 MLSE based EDC ICs at Intersymbol Communications, Inc, Champaign, IL, USA. From 2007 to 2009, he was with Finisar Corporation (NASDAQ: FNSR), Sunnyvale, CA, USA, after its acquisition of Intersymbol Communications Inc.. Since 2009, he has been on the faculty of the electrical engineering at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Korea, where he is currently an associate professor. In 2010, he founded Terasquare, Inc., Seoul, Korea, which provided low power 100 Gb/s transceiver solutions. Teresquare, Inc. was acquired by Gigpeak (NYSE:GIG) in 2015. In 2013 and 2016, he founded OBElab, Inc., Seoul, Korea, a bio startup that manufactures portable functional brain imaging systems and Point2technology, Inc., San Jose, CA, that provides dielectric waveguide-based high-speed interconnect solutions, respectively. His research interests span a wide range of topics in wireline communication and medical systems. He is now serving on the wireline subcommittee of International Solid-State Circuit Conference (ISSCC) since 2014 and has been selected as a Distinguished lecturer of IEEE Solid-State Circuit Society in 2017. Dr. Bae received the Excellence Award from the National Academy of Engineering of Korea in 2013 and the 2006 IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits Best Paper Award.

When: October 24, 3:30–4:30 p.m

Where: Rm 869, School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, 2001 Avenue McGill College