EEE8116 : Bioelectronics
- Offered for Year: 2023/24
- Module Leader(s): Professor Patrick Degenaar
- Owning School: Engineering
- Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters
| Semester 2 Credit Value: | 20 |
| ECTS Credits: | 10.0 |
Aims
To develop a deep understanding of the principles of bioelectronics and their increasing importance to modern medical electronics. The course will cover four main domains:
(i) Cellular Bioelectronics: which covers the principles of the electrochemical operation of cells, how they work and how they communicate with each other.
(ii) Bioelectronic devices: which covers how biological tissue can be artificially probed, and what kinds of devices can be developed to sense or stimulate biological activity.
(iii) Bioelectronic circuits: which can be developed to drive or sense devices to which comprise modern and future biomedical interfaces
(iv) Bioelectronic medical systems: what is their architecture? What kinds of interventions can be made? Key examples in visual prosthesis for the blind and seizure suppression in epilepsy. Finally, the regulatory and ethical constraints to developing medical devices.
Each component will comprise 25% of the course and will have associated practical activities, including bioelectronic circuit design, biosignal acquisition and a problem-based learning exercise centred on developing a concept novel medical system.
Outline Of Syllabus
The course comprises of 2 main sections:
1. HUMAN BIOELECTRONICS:
(i) Human bioelectronics and failure
(ii) Electrochemistry of cellular bioelectronics
(iii) The action potential and the Hodgkin Huxeley Theorem
(iv) Inter-neuron transmission
(v) Optogenetics – cellular vision
(vi) Neural coding
(vii) Fundamentals of biosignals sensing
(viii) Electrical neural stimulus
(ix) Optical communications with cells
2. BIOELECTRONIC MEDICAL CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS
(i) Transistors to amplifiers
(ii) Core bioelectronic circuits
(iii) Traversing analog and digital domains
(iv) Implantable communications
(v) Implant control methodologies
(vi) Implant power management
(vii) Biocompatibilty
(viii) Neuroprosthetics for epilepsy
(ix) Neuroprosthetics for vision restoration
Teaching Methods
Teaching Activities
| Category | Activity | Number | Length | Student Hours | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 1 | 18:30 | 18:30 | Preparation for the exam. |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Lecture | 2 | 2:00 | 4:00 | In class guest Lectures: from guest lecturers from industry/medicine |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Lecture | 18 | 2:00 | 36:00 | In class lectures |
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 1 | 1:30 | 1:30 | Exam |
| Structured Guided Learning | Lecture materials | 20 | 2:00 | 40:00 | Lecture note taking: Students review the lecture notes and take their own notes. |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Practical | 2 | 3:00 | 6:00 | Practical Laboratory activities: 2x physical lab sessions in lab to provide practical understanding of the course |
| Guided Independent Study | Directed research and reading | 4 | 3:00 | 12:00 | Preparation for PBL Reading literature and preparing presentation |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Practical | 2 | 3:00 | 6:00 | CAD Lab activities 2x circuit design simulation sessions in computer cluster |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Small group teaching | 1 | 2:00 | 2:00 | Exam review: Run through the course and a past paper to support exam revision. |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Small group teaching | 4 | 2:00 | 8:00 | Small Group Tutorials: To go through course material in detail in the form of exam questions. |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Workshops | 1 | 4:00 | 4:00 | PBL Group presentation exercise At the end of the module. |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Workshops | 2 | 2:00 | 4:00 | Problem based learning exercise to provide group work experience on a specific bioelectronic problem |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Drop-in/surgery | 4 | 1:00 | 4:00 | Open office period: To allow students to come and ask any questions they may have |
| Guided Independent Study | Independent study | 1 | 54:00 | 54:00 | General self study and self reading to review the module |
| Total | 200:00 |
Teaching Rationale And Relationship
Lectures:
This course will have 20x 2 hours in-class interactive lectures. This is the best form of presenting detailed concepts. Notes will be provided in the form of PowerPoint lecture slides. To support the lectures, there are 40x 15-minute short videos which review the key concepts.
Tutorials:
4x tutorials will be provided as before to cover each aspect of the course. These will be performed in small groups with students split up into small groups of 3 or 4 students so that they can work as a team. The tutorial questions will be provided in the exam format so that students can understand from an early point what the exam questions will look like. Students will be provided with exemplar answers post-tutorial.
Lab work:
Students will have 4x lab sessions during the course:
(i) Circuit design labs:
The best way to develop instinct about circuits and circuit design is to carry out design work. This is best achieved on LTSpice simulation software, which is straightforward but powerful. 2 labs will be provided which will reinforce much of the material from the course.
(ii) Electronics labs:
Two labs will be provided: (i) ElectroCardioGram (ECG) heart recording and (ii) an objective to build a pulse oximeter circuit. These will respectively give experience in biosignals acquisition and printed circuit board development. They will also reinforce the theoretical material from the lectures.
The pulse oximeter circuit lab will be assessed.
Problem based learning:
Students' diverse background on this module is an excellent opportunity to provide experience in working as an interdisciplinary team. As such, students will be split into small teams of 3,4 to explore how to create a novel bioelectronic solution to a specific medical problem. The outcome will be the presentation of a group poster. This means students will learn how to present in a pitch + Q&A format, which is very different to the traditional PowerPoint.
Assessment Methods
The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners
Exams
| Description | Length | Semester | When Set | Percentage | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Written Examination | 90 | 2 | A | 60 | Closed-Book Exam |
Other Assessment
| Description | Semester | When Set | Percentage | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oral Examination | 2 | M | 20 | PBL Oral presentation: (in the form of a poster) describing the student’s exploration into a bioelectronic solutions part of group based learning exercises |
| Practical/lab report | 2 | M | 20 | Lab test: There will be an assessment of the experimental lab. |
Assessment Rationale And Relationship
Lectures:
This course will have 20x 2 hours in-class interactive lectures. This is the best form of presenting detailed concepts. Notes will be provided in the form of PowerPoint lecture slides. To support the lectures, there are 40x 15-minute short videos which review the key concepts.
Tutorials:
4x tutorials will be provided as before to cover each aspect of the course. These will be performed in small groups with students split up into small groups of 3 or 4 students so that they can work as a team. The tutorial questions will be provided in the exam format so that students can understand from an early point what the exam questions will look like. Students will be provided with exemplar answers post-tutorial.
Lab work:
Students will have 4x lab sessions during the course:
(i) Circuit design labs:
The best way to develop instinct about circuits and circuit design is to carry out design work. This is best achieved on LTSpice simulation software, which is straightforward but powerful. 2 labs will be provided which will reinforce much of the material from the course.
(ii) Electronics labs:
Two labs will be provided: (i) ElectroCardioGram (ECG) heart recording and (ii) an objective to build a pulse oximeter circuit. These will respectively give experience in biosignals acquisition and printed circuit board development. They will also reinforce the theoretical material from the lectures.
The pulse oximeter circuit lab will be assessed.
Problem based learning:
Students' diverse background on this module is an excellent opportunity to provide experience in working as an interdisciplinary team. As such, students will be split into small teams of 3,4 to explore how to create a novel bioelectronic solution to a specific medical problem. The outcome will be the presentation of a group poster. This means students will learn how to present in a pitch + Q&A format, which is very different to the traditional PowerPoint.
Reading Lists
Timetable
- Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
- EEE8116's Timetable