Bioelectronic Systems as Neural Interfaces
5th Feburary 2026
Timing : 1 pm ET
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For a list of all talks at the NanoBio seminar series Spring'26, see here
Advanced electronic/optoelectronic systems constructed in classes of materials that enable intimate integration with soft tissues of the brain and the peripheral nervous system will accelerate progress in neuroscience research; they will also serve as the foundations for new approaches in regenerative medicine and in the treatment of neurodegenerative disease. Specifically, capabilities for injecting miniaturized electronic elements, light sources, photodetectors, multiplexed sensors, programmable microfluidic networks and other components into precise locations of the deep brain or for softly laminating them onto the surfaces of peripheral nerves will open up unique and important opportunities in stimulating, inhibiting and monitoring neural circuit behaviors. This presentation will describe concepts in materials science and assembly processes that underpin these types of technologies, in 1D, 2D and 3D architectures. Examples include ‘cellular-scale’ optofluidic neural probes for small animal model research and 3D mesoscale networks for study of neural signal propagation in organoids.
Dr. John A. Rogers
Professor John A. Rogers obtained BA and BS degrees in chemistry and in physics from the University of Texas, Austin, in 1989. From MIT, he received SM degrees in physics and in chemistry in 1992 and a PhD degree in physical chemistry in 1995. From 1995 to 1997, Rogers was a Junior Fellow in the Harvard University Society of Fellows. He joined Bell Laboratories as a Member of Technical Staff in 1997 and served as Director of the Condensed Matter Physics Research Department from 2000 to 2002. He then spent thirteen years on the faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, finally as the Swanlund Chair Professor and Director of the Seitz Materials Research Laboratory. In the Fall of 2016, he joined the faculty at Northwestern University where he is Director of the Querrey-Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics. He has published ~1000 papers and he is co-inventor on ~100 patents, >70 of which are licensed and in active use. More than 160 former members of his group are now in faculty positions at universities around the world. His research has been recognized by many awards, including a MacArthur Fellowship (2009), the Lemelson-MIT Prize (2011), the Smithsonian Award (2013), the Benjamin Franklin Medal (2019), a Guggenheim Fellowship (2021), the James Prize (2022), the IEEE Biomedical Engineering Award (2024) and the Bakerian Medal and Lecture of the Royal Society (2025). He is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering, of Sciences, of Medicine and of Inventors, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Royal Society.