Hearing the Light

Hearing the Light Hearing the Light Hearing the LightBioengineering researchers are working to lighten the burdens of hearing loss literally with a new generation of hearing devices that use light instead of electricity to trigger an auditory response. Proponents of the technology believe light-based approaches could be a major step forward in hearing prosthetics, even surpassing the performance of cochlear implants todays top-of-the-line technology.According to the World Health Organization, disabling hearing loss affects an estimated 360 million people. Conventional hearing aids that amplify ambient sounds can help many people, but they dont work for everyone. With some 500,000 users around the world, cochlear implants have taken hearing instruments to a new level. They work by transforming sounds into electronic signals, separating them by frequency, and transmitting them to a series of electrodes surgically placed within the cochlea a hollow, snail-shaped chamber within the i nner ear. The electrodes reproduce the sound experience by stimulating the auditory neurons in key sites within the cochlea.Current electrical implant inside the cochlea with large lateral spread of electric stimulation. (top) Future optical implant with numerous emitters light is focused onto the auditory nerve. (bottom) Image University of Medicine GoettingenCochlear implants have been continually improving since their commercial introduction in the mid-1970s, but performance limitations persist. Appreciating music or discerning speech in a noisy environment, for example, are still major challenges for implant users. Within the narrow, coiled anatomy of the cochlea, electrical current spreads laterally from each electrode over a large area, causing interference and diminishing frequency entschlieung. To the implant user, sounds become muddled and difficult to differentiate. These issues with resolution, along with the expense and physical discomfort of the implantation procedure, discourage many potential users from trying cochlear implants.For You Targeting Cancer Drugs to 3D-Printed TumorsOptical stimulation may be the breakthrough to increase the frequency resolution of cochlear implants and make them a more universal solution, says Tobias Moser, an auditory neuroscience expert at the University Medical Center Goettingen, Germany. Moser is a pioneer in one of the two primary approaches to optical cochlear implant engineering. His method combines the gene reprogramming technique known as optogenetics with a fiber-optic-based device that carries light pulses into the cochlea from a remote light source. The other major approach, as originally developed by Northwestern University otolaryngology professor Claus-Peter Richter, involves the use of near-infrared laser beams to recreate the sound experience by manipulating fluid within the cochlea. In proof-of-concept testing with various animal models of hearing loss, both approaches have produced encouraging res ults that suggest the technology will one day be viable for human hearing correction.Optical stimulation may be the breakthrough to increase the frequency resolution of cochlear implants and make them a more universal solution.Tobias Moser, University Medical Center GoettingenOptogenetic implantsOptogenetics has been explored in animals as a possible treatment for a range of human neurological and psychiatric disorders such as Parkinsons disease, drug abuse, chronic pain and schizophrenia. In an optogenetic experiment, a lab animal is injected with an adeno-associated virus (AAV) carrying a payload of genes to targeted sites in the nervous system. These genes encode the production of proteins known as channelrhodopsins which, when exposed to light, trigger a desired response in the host nerve cells.Mosers group is one of the few adapting optogenetics to the correction of deafness. In a recent headline-making paper in the journal Science Translational Medicine, the group reported suc cess with optogenetics to achieve spatially and temporally precise, cell-specific stimulation of cochlear neurons in deaf gerbils. The work builds on earlier studies with mice and rats that first proved the principle of optical cochlear implants. The gerbil is a oben liegend model for hearing research because the animals cochlea is somewhat closer in size to a humans and its hearing range extends to the low frequency ranges perceived by the human ear. Through a battery of electrophysiological and behavioral tests, the team measured stable optical auditory responses in the test animals brains over a period of weeks. Although commercialization of the technology faces a number of scientific hurdles and is at least two years away, Moser has launched a start-up company, OptoGenTech, to further develop his ideas. A key next step, he said, is to expand the current study from a single-channel device to a multichannel system based on waveguide arrays or LEDs to help determine the optimal num ber of stimulation channels future optical cochlear implants should possess.Laser ListeningOther groups are fine-tuning optical cochlear implants that dont require the reprogramming of genes. Claus-Peter Richter, an otolaryngology professor and principal investigator at Northwestern Universitys Auditory Research Laboratory, pioneered an approach using pulsed near-infrared lasers and fiber-optic implants to achieve infrared neural stimulation (INS). In this approach, auditory neurons are stimulated in their native state as the laser pulses rapidly increase the temperature of the fluid within the cochlea, causing a portion of it to expand. That expansion generates a sound wave, which stimulates the hairlike sensory receptors in the inner ear, which then transmit signals via the auditory nerve to the brain.Building on those ideas, a team of bioengineers at the Centre Suisse dElectronique et de Microtechnique (CSEM, Neuchatel, Switzerland) are developing a fully implantable single-chann el optoacoustic device powered by a rechargeable vertical cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL). Positioning the laser source directly within the cochlea delivers higher-intensity stimulation, which increases the likelihood of producing audible sound. The group, led by physicist Mark Fretz, sealed the tiny laser in an optically transparent, biocompatible sapphire box coated with an antifouling agent to prevent loss of signal due to tissue adherence. The team is currently working to further miniaturize the apparatus and reduce power consumption to lengthen operation time between battery charges.Michael MacRae is an independent writer.Read MoreA Prosthetic Arm Bangs the DrumsSmart Bandage Does It AllFinding a New Purpose for an Ultrafast Laser For Further Discussion

Remembering ASME Past President Richard Rosenberg

Remembering ASME Past President Richard Rosenberg Remembering ASME Past President Richard Rosenberg Remembering ASME Past President Richard RosenbergSept. 8, 2017 Richard Rosenberg, P.E.Richard Rosenberg, P.E., a longtime member of ASME and former president of the Society, passed away on Aug. 26. A resident of San Diego, Calif., Rosenberg was 90 years old.Rosenberg, who served as the 106th president of ASME from 1987 to 1988, was an active member of ASME for nearly 60 years. A member of the Board of Governors from 1982 to 1984, Rosenberg was a member of the Alexander Holley Society and a representative to the Archimedes Club at the time of his passing.Previously, he had served the Society in a number of leadership roles, including director of the ASME Foundation board of directors from 1995-2001, chair of the Committee on Legal Affairs from 1999-2001, chair of the Committee on Staff from 1992-1997, chair of the Committee of Past Presidents from 1991-1992, member of the Committee on Honors from 2006-2012, and advisor to the Nominating Committee from 1989-1992. He also served as vice president of ASMEs former Region IX, which encompassed California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii, from 1978-1980, and chair of the San Diego Section from 1966-1967. An ASME Fellow, Rosenberg was named an Honorary Member of ASME in 2003 and received the ASME Dedicated tafelgeschirr Award in 1992.Rosenberg was an employee of GA Technologies in San Diego for 25 years, working primarily in the design and development of components for nuclear power reactors, before retiring as manager of systems and components in 1986. He briefly left GA Technologies from 1971 to 1972 to work for the Atomic Energy Commission in Washington, D.C. Before joining GA Technologies, he had previously been employed at Advanced Technology Laboratories in Mountain View, Calif., Westinghouse Bettis Laboratories in West Mifflin, Pa., and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. He received his bachelors degree in me chanical engineering from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in 1954, after studying at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

Heres everything you need to know about a career in cannabis

Heres everything you need to know about a career in cannabisHeres everything you need to know about a career in cannabisNow that marijuana for medical or recreational use is legal in 29 states or more than half of the country should American workers, entrepreneurs and investors give it consideration as a career choice?It is a high risk and high reward proposition. The competition is fierce and government regulations both on the state and federal level could have enormous implications for theCannabisbusiness. On Jan. 4, 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded Obama-era memos that assuredcannabisbusinesses they would not be subject to federal prosecution as long as they followed their states laws. Moreover,in 2017, only 368 of 12,000 financial institutions in the U.S. servedcannabisbusinesses.However, thecannabisbusiness is projected to grow to $24 1000000000000by 2025 and 97% of recreational stores make a profit or break even. If the government and financial institutions co ntinue to support it, we have only seen the tip of the iceberg in terms of how lucrative it can be. It has already created tremendous amounts of jobs and tax revenue.The University of Cambridge just announced it will teach the first-everSeed to SaleCannabisCase Study to some of the brightest business school minds in the world.With many other colleges set to follow suit, it is becoming an increasingly popular career path.To help break down the opportunities and risks, the team atBusinessStudent.comreleasedThe Unique Challenges of TheCannabisBusiness - Report and Infographic.