Promotion lecture for docent by Silvia Muceli

Welcome to the Promotion lecture for docent by Silvia Muceli

Title: Interfacing spinal motor neurons via muscle recordings

Abstract:
We move thanks to the coordinated activity of muscles. Muscles are controlled by cells (motoneurons) at the spinal cord, and act as biological amplifiers of the neural output from the spinal cord. In fact, when motoneurons activate, they send electrical signals that are converted into electrical activity in the innervated muscle fibers, making them contract.
While accessing the spinal cord directly requires a risky invasive intervention, with appropriate sensor technology and signal processing techniques, it is possible to interface spinal motor neurons in vivo via muscle recordings.
Conventional technology for muscle signal recordings (electromyography, EMG) allows the detection of a few motoneurons, that are not representative of the whole muscles. To overcome this limitation, we have developed different types of invasive and noninvasive interfaces with high-density EMG electrodes that enable the detection of populations of motoneurons. We have used this technology in multiple experiments in humans and different animal species.
In this talk, I will focus on the design and development of high-density EMG electrodes, signal processing techniques to decompose the muscle signals into the electrical activity of individual spinal motoneurons, and applications in humans and animal models in the fields of motor control and neural prosthesis control.

Welcome!

Silvia Muceli and Anders Karlström