Transcript Slide 1

Worthing Rice Apprentice Program
Read, Write, Study and Learn about the brain,
electronics, and computers in small, serious, caring
groups lead by Rice students and faculty.
April 21, 2011
One Challenge: 3 Million with Epilepsy
Three Teams
 Team VNS
 Crystal, Charriel and Donya
 Jessica, Alicia and Malcolm
 Team Spike
 Jairus, Naam, Edwin, Princess, Andre, and Kendre
 Katie, Jen, Jamie and Jon
 Team EEG
 Keyera, Sade, Sane, Javan, Loyce and Guillermo
 Andrew, Kiefer, Ryan, Zach and Steve
Vagus Nerve Stimulator Group
Charriel Greer, Donya Guyton, Crystal Stanford-Wallace
A large percentage of epileptic patients do not
respond to anti-convulsant drugs.
Rather than removing the suspect brain tissue
doctors often trick the brain into treating itself.
One such method is Vagus Nerve Stimulation, in
which the Vagus Nerve is artificially driven at a rate
and amplitude that leads to the beneficial release of
calming hormones into the hyperactive tissue.
Vagus Nerve Stimulator
 Small device which
is the size of a
silver dollar
 Sends mild,
electrical impulses
to the brain through
vagus nerve
 Vagus nerve then
stimulates Locus
Coeruleus which
delivers a hormone
that reduces
seizures.
Locus Coeruleus and Norepinephrine
 The Locus Coeruleus is a
nucleus in the brain stem that
responds to stress and panic.
 Norepinephrine has two roles.
It is a hormone and a
neurotransmitter. As a stress
hormone it affects parts of the
brain where attention and
responding actions are
controlled. In the central
nervous system and
sympathetic nervous system
where it is released from
noradrenergic neurons.
Neuron Communication
A Closer Look at the Synapse
Removal of Neurotransmitters
Chemical Equations
Reactants and Products
Types of Equations
Balancing
Equal moles of each atom on each side of the
equation
Rate of Reactions
Depends on
 Concentration
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of Reactants
Rate coefficients
A+B
 Forward
C
Rate= kf [A][B]
 Reverse Rate= kr [C]
Neurotransmitters and Receptors
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R + Nt
C
Forming Complexes
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R + Nt
C
Comparing Normal and Epileptic
Patients
Condition
Total Neurotransmitters
Concentration
Concentration of
Complexes Formed
Normal
At Rest
0.0001
0.001
Normal
Firing
0.05
0.7
Epilepsy
Firing
0.1
0.9
Because epilepsy patients have more formed
complexes, the neurons will fire more.
Modeling: the First Step to
Understanding Epilepsy
This design characterizes the reaction
between neurons and neurotransmitters
Using this, we can determine the
concentration of complexes when a neuron
fires
By modeling the synapse, we hope to gain a
better understanding of how neuron disorders
work
Team Spike
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Naam McClinton
Kendre Watson
Princess Rolle
Edwin Garcia
Andre Burrell
Jairus Warren
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Goal: Build circuits that produce spikes
Passive Model
Simulations
Fitzhugh-Nagumo Model
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Simplification of the active neuron model
Future work: examine synchrony among neurons
EEG = Extremely Excited Group
 Guillermo Chavez
 Javan Hamilton
 Loyce Gayo
 Keyera Lee
 Sane Picquet
 Sade Picquet
Goal: Decode brain waves into movement
Projects
 Programming in Octave & Matlab
 Building EEG circuit board
 Building the awesome car (soon)
 Recording and measuring brain waves
 Putting it all together
What is EEG?
 EEG
(electroencephalogram)
 Measures electrical
activity in the brain
 Common uses for brain
disorders, e.g., Epilepsy
EEG Circuit Building
 Electrical parts and components
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Capacitors
Resistors
Potentiometers
Wires
Op-amps
Bread board
Battery
The Secret Behind the Magic!
Raw Data from EEG
Linear interpolation
Fourier Transform
CAR MOVES (aaaaaaaawwwwhhh moment)
Mathematical Methods
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Math basics
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Fourier Theory- breaks down brain waves into sine waves
(Play FREQ)
Programming
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Trapezoid Rule
Fourier series
Move car by high (gamma) vs. low (theta) frequency
Demo & Thanks
 Our Mentors
 Dr. Dave Caprette (Crawfish and Frog Labs)
 Dr. Maria Oden and Mr.Carlos Amaro (Design
Kitchen)
 Dr. Anne Saterbak (Microscope/Circuit Lab)
 Ms. Laura Cox (Snacks)
 Ms. Honore and Dr. Cox