TALK: Two-photon Imaging and Manipulation of Neural Circuits
Weijian Yang, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering – UC Davis Weijian Yang is an associate professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, Davis. He received his undergraduate degree from Peking University and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, all in Electrical Engineering. After postdoctoral training in neuroscience at Columbia University, Dr. Yang started his own laboratory at UC Davis in late 2017. His current research aims to develop advanced optical methods and neurotechnologies to interrogate and modulate brain activity, with a goal to understand how neural circuits organize and function and how behaviors emerge from neuronal activity. He is a recipient of the Career Awards at the Scientific Interface from Burroughs Wellcome Fund in 2016, the Early Career Award from National Science Foundation in 2019, and the Science and PINS Prize for Neuromodulation (second prize) from American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2021.

TALK: Talking to neurons with ultrasound
Mikhail G. Shapiro, PhD, Professor of Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Mikhail Shapiro is a Professor of Chemical Engineering, an HHMI Investigator, and Director of the Center for Molecular and Cellular Medicine at Caltech. The Shapiro laboratory develops biomolecular technologies allowing cells to be imaged and controlled inside the body using sound waves and magnetic fields. These technologies enable the study of biological function in vivo and the development of cell-based diagnostic and therapeutic agents. Mikhail received his PhD in Biological Engineering from MIT and his BSc in Neuroscience from Brown. He conducted post-doctoral research at the University of Chicago and the University of California, Berkeley, where he was a Miller Fellow. Mikhail’s awards include the NIH Pioneer Award, the Packard Fellowship, the Pew Scholarship, the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, and the Roger Tsien Award for Excellence in Chemical Biology. More information about the Shapiro Lab can be found online at shapirolab.caltech.edu.

TALK: Seeing the Sound: Optical and Ultrasonic Interfaces for Neuromodulation
Guosong Hong, PhD, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering – Stanford University
Dr. Guosong Hong received his PhD in chemistry from Stanford University in 2014, and then carried out postdoctoral studies with at Harvard University. Dr. Hong joined Stanford Materials Science and Engineering and Neurosciences Institute as an assistant professor in 2018. His research at Stanford aims to develop and apply novel optical and electronic materials for minimally invasive brain interfacing. He is a recipient of the NIH Pathway to Independence (K99/R00) Award, the MIT Technology Review ‘35 Innovators Under 35’ Award, the Science PINS Prize for Neuromodulation, the NSF CAREER Award, the Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the Rita Allen Foundation Scholars Award.

TALK: Silktrode: New opportunities in neurotechnologies from an ancient material
Professor Tao Hu, Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute Investigator; Professor, Shanghai Institute of Microsystems and Information Technology (SIMIT), Chinese Academy of Sciences; Founding Director, 2020 X-Lab, SIMIT; Deputy Director, State Key Laboratory of Transducer Technology
Dr. Tiger H. Tao is currently the Vice Director of Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, CAS, the Vice Director of the State Key Lab of Transducer Technology, and the Founding Director of 2020 X-Lab. Dr. Tao received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering with the Best Dissertation Award from Boston University, in 2010. His research interests have mainly focused on the cutting-edge research of biotechnology and information technology (BTIT), including the Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs), AI sensors and chips, biomaterials and medical implants. Dr. Tao is the Co-Founder and the Chief Scientist of NeuroXess, a start-up company focused on BCI technologies. Dr. Tao has won the Top Award of World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC 2021), Shanghai Young Scientist Award for Outstanding Contribution (2020), and Young Scientist Award of CAS (2021).

TALK: Nerve-machine interfaces for the neurorehabilitation
Professor Dr. Stanisa Raspopovic, Department of Health Sciences and Technology – ETH Zürich
Stanisa Raspopovic has been since 2018 an Assistant Professor of Neuroengineering at the Department of Health Sciences and Technology of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland. His research interest is focused on the development of innovative medical devices for treatment of neurologically disabled persons. In particular, he develops mechatronic systems directly interfacing the environment with the residual nervous system. Stanisa achieved the groundbreaking translational research results in the field of sensory restoration in amputee patients. By means of neuroprosthetic intervention, his group has shown that restoration of foot and knee sensations via neural implants, in above-knee amputees, diminished their pain, metabolic cost and mental fatigue, while enhancing functionality, confidence and acceptance of the prosthesis. These man-machine efforts are now expanded to diabetics and stroke patients’ treatment. He won several grants from EU and Switzerland in the role of a project leader and is presently the PI of the prestigious ERC starting grant FeelAgain.

TALK: Low frequency stimulation successfully interferes with focal epileptic seizures without affecting hippocampal function
Professor Dr. Carola Haas, Dept. of Neurosurgery; Medical Center – University of Freiburg, Germany
During her studies of Biology, Professor Dr. Haas focused on Neurobiology and followed this path during her whole career. During her PhD thesis at the Max-Planck-Institute of Neurobiology, Martinsried, Germany, she studied synaptic proteins followed by a postdoctoral phase in the group of Prof. Dr. G. Kreutzberg, an expert in nerve regeneration. Haas continued research on regenerative capacity of CNS neurons at the University of Freiburg, with Prof. Dr. M. Frotscher, culminating in her habilitation. In the meantime, Haas became interested in epilepsy research focusing on the structural and functional reorganization of the hippocampal and neocortical networks in epilepsy, a research topic she has been following since then. In 2004, Professor Dr. Haas was appointed to a research professorship at the Medical Center of the University of Freiburg. With her group there, she performs multilevel research on different aspects of pharmacoresistant focal epilepsies. They aim to understand the process of epileptogenesis with the perspective of developing new tools for treatment and/or intervention. To this end, they apply in vivo physiology and optogenetic as well as molecular and morphological techniques.