Workshop on Advanced Cybernetics
Biotechnology, Brain-computer Interface, Microelectronics,
Neuroengineering, Nanomedicine, Exoeskeleton, Bio-sensors, Laser
microstructuring, Dynamic Clamp, 3D Body Scanning.
Amorphous silicon carbide (SiC) has been used for several years as a non-biofouling coating in biomedical devices such as coronary stents and bone implants. However, up to recently, the biocompatibility of single crystal SiC, which presents appealing bio-sensing potentialities, has been in question. A comprehensive study of the biocompatibility of this wide band-gap semiconductor has been performed with extremely promising results which show the higher performance of SiC in bio-environments with respect to Si, the leading semiconductor, and introduce SiC into a unique class of materials that is both bio- and hemocompatible. The work presented here originates from these compelling in vitro findings, and brings them to a new level by confirming the biocompatibility of SiC, this time in vivo, and precisely in a neuronal environment. A semiconducting chip with 3C-SiC and Si faces was surgically implanted into the brain of a wild mouse to evaluate the response of the microglia with outstanding results. Being glial cells indicative of immuno-inflammatory response of the body to the implant, a high concentration of these cells on the chip is considered as a sign of reduced biocompatibility. The Si control shank was fully covered with activated glial cells while the 3C-SiC shank only displayed evidence of cell attachment where Si material was available to the cells. Moreover, results of an AFM study are presented here which show the degradation of Si surfaces after that a cell culture was performed on it. On the other hand the mechanical and chemical resilience of SiC, together with its outstanding performance in vivo in a neuronal environment, make it the optimum candidate for future biocompatible biomedical devices.
Dr. Saddow's research interests are to develop wide-bandgap
semiconductor materials for biomedical and MEMS/NEMS applications. His
group has demonstrated the in-vitro biocompatibility of 3C-SiC to
numerous cell lines and lately his research has focused on the central
nervous system. He was recently appointed to the Department of Molecular
Pharmacology and Physiology in the US|F College of Medicine based on
the interdisciplinary nature of this work. His ultimate research
objective is to develop smart sensors for harsh environments and
biomedical applications based on wide band gap semiconductor materials.
His main expertise was in the development of a hot-wall CVD growth
capability specializing in the growth of SiC epitaxial films on Si
substrates. He is a senior member of the IEEE and has over 100
publications on SiC materials and devices, with nearly half in archived
journals. He recently edited a book on SiC entitled Advances in Silicon
Carbide Processing and Applications. For more information on Dr.
Saddow's research activities visit his homepage at http://www.eng.usf.edu/~saddow.
Laser Microstructuring
Dr. Mendonça's research is aimed at the study of nonlinear optical
interaction in materials from both fundamental and applied points of
view. Ultrafast pulses are employed to investigate nonlinear processes
as well as to fabricate micro-devices for photonics applications. He was
the winner of the Gallieno Denardo Award for 2010 from ICO/ICTP
(International Commission for Optics/International Centre for
Theoretical Physics). Dr. Mendonça obtained his Ph.D. in Physics from
University of São Paulo (2000) and was a postdoctoratal research fellow
at Harvard and Central Florida University.
Nanomedicine and Nanotoxicology
Graduate at Engenharia de Materiais from Universidade Federal de São
Carlos (1997), master's at Material and Metallurgical Engineering from
Universidade Federal de São Carlos (1999) and ph.d. at Ciência e
Engenharia de Materiais from Universidade de São Paulo (2003). Has
experience in Nanomedicine and Nanotoxicology, especially in the design,
synthesis and application of nanoparticles in cancer diagnosis and
treatment. Dr Zucolotto has published more than 100 peer reviwed papers
and holds more than 10 patents in nanomedicine areas.
Neuron Dynamic Clamp
Professor Associado da Universidade de São Paulo junto ao
Departamento de Física e Informática do Instituto de Física de São
Carlos. Graduou-se em Física pela Universidade de São Paulo (1993) e
doutorou-se em Física pela Universidade de São Paulo (1999) na área de
sistemas dinâmicos não-lineares experimentais. Foi pos-doc no Institute
For Non-Linear Science da University of California, San Diego de 1999 a
2001 onde trabalhou com Neurociência Experimental. Defendeu sua tese de
Livre Docência Do Caos a Dinâmica Não Linear de Redes Neurais
Biológicas: a implantação de uma nova linha de pesquisa no LFNL-IFUSP em
2005. Transferiu-se do IFUSP para o IFSC em Setembro de 2008. Tem
experiência nas áreas de Física e Neurociência, com ênfase em Sistemas
Dinâmicos e Caos. Atua principalmente nos seguintes temas: sistemas
dinâmicos, caos experimental, redes neurais biológicas, centros
geradores de padrões motores, teoria da informação e interação em tempo
real entre computadores e redes neurais biológicas. Possuí 25 artigos
publicados em revistas indexadas que foram citados mais de 420 vezes (de
acordo com o ISI Web of Science), resultando um fator H = 13.
Exoskeletons
Graduate at Mechanical Engineering from Universidade de São Paulo
(1999) and PhD at Electric Engineering from Universidade de São Paulo
(2004). He has experience in Mechanical Engineering, acting on the
following subjects: nonlinear H-infinity control, underactuated
manipulators, fault tolerant systems, exoskeletons and robotic
rehabilitation.
3D Body Scanning
Mario Gazziro has a PhD in Physics from the University of Sao Paulo,
Brazil with an internship at Technical Superior Institute, Portugal. He
is a microeletronics specialist with advanced training from Cadence
Design Systems, USA and from Toshiba Semiconductors, Japan. Currently he
is professor at ICMC/USP, Brazil. His areas of
expertise involve: Microelectronics, reconfigurable hardware, Image and
Signal Processing, Neurosciences, Biomedical Engineering, RFid and MRI.
Subjects:
Chair: Eduardo Simões (ICMC, USP) / Stephen E. Saddow (USF, EUA) / Cleber Renato Mendonça (IFSC, USP) / Valtencir Zucoloto (IFSC, USP) / Reynaldo Daniel Pinto (IFSC, USP) / Adriano Almeida Goncalves Siqueira (EESC, USP) / / Dilvan de Abreu Moreira (ICMC, USP) / João Navarro Soares Junior (EESC, USP) / Fernando Santos Osório (ICMC, USP) / Vanderlei Bonato (ICMC, USP) / Lirio Onofre Batista de Almeida (IFSC, USP) / Jecel Assumpção Jr (ICMC, USP / Merlintec Computers) / Paulo Matias (IFSC, USP) / Mario Gazziro (ICMC, USP) / Carlos Eduardo Capovilla (UFABC) / Nelson Guimaraes Filho (Symetrix) / José Alberto Cuminato (ICMC/USP)
