Cao Book Addresses Challenges of Connecting Bioelectronics to Humans
June 23, 2020 - Samueli School’s Hung Cao, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science, and biomedical engineering, has published a book titled “Interfacing Bioelectronics and Biomedical Sensing” with colleagues from UC San Diego and UCLA.
Published by Springer Nature, the book addresses the fundamental challenges of interfacing bioelectronics with human and animal tissue. Written for biomedical engineers and researchers, the authors cover topics ranging from retinal implants that restore vision, to implantable circuits for neural biomedical devices, to intravascular electrochemical impedance for detecting unstable plaque deposits in arteries.
Cao said that he and his co-authors discussed the need for a book about technologies that link engineering with biological research and medicine when they attended the annual meeting of the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) in 2016.
“The book covers several hot topics in the field of biomedical microdevices and systems, such as optimization of electrode-tissue interface, wireless power transfer, neural implants, novel biomaterials and high-frequency ultrasound to just to name a few,” said Cao, whose NIH- and NSF-funded research involves developing and leveraging novel microdevices and sensors for use in biology and medicine. “We determined that a cadre of experts would be included; each group would contribute a chapter covering both basic and in-depth materials.”
The chapter overseen by Cao covers basics about cardiac functions, the use of zebrafish as the premier animal model to study cardiac disease and heart regeneration, as well as the use of artificial intelligence in biological studies, diagnosis and prognosis.
Cao’s co-authors are Todd Coleman at UC San Diego and Ali Khademhosseini and Tzung Hsiai from UCLA.
– Lori Brandt
