Bernstein-CorTec Award 2024 goes to two young researchers

Prof. Kerstin Krieglstein, Rector of the University of Freiburg, awarded the Bernstein-CorTec Prize for Computational Neuroscience and Neurotechnology to two young researchers, Enya Paschen and Eric Klein, on the morning of 16 October.

The Bernstein-CorTec Prize honors outstanding scientific achievements in doctoral and master’s theses in the field of computational neuroscience and neurotechnology. The prize is awarded annually, alternating between doctoral and master’s theses. In the year 2024, the prize is awarded to doctoral theses.

The two award-winning doctoral theses deal with the following topics:

1. Enya Paschen: Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) is the most common focal epilepsy in adults. Despite advances in pharmacological, surgical and neuromodulatory treatment strategies, many patients do not achieve adequate control of their epileptic seizures. Enya Paschen’s dissertation focussed on the development of new neuromodulation techniques and their effects on seizure activity and cognitive functions in MTLE. She found that low-frequency stimulation (LFS, optogeneric or electrical) in the hippocampus suppresses seizure onset and does not impair core hippocampal functions such as learning, spatial navigation and memory. She was thus able to present LFS as an effective stimulation protocol and an alternative therapeutic approach for treatment-resistant MTLE patients.

2. Eric Klein: His thesis describes the first functional optical cochlear implant (oCI) based on integrated μLEDs successfully applied in vivo. In order to integrate the highest possible number of individually addressable μLEDs, he evaluated different routing schemes, implementing single- and multi-layer metallization. Based on conclusions drawn during the intense evaluation of the first oCI generation (oCI-1), a new single layer interconnection approach was developed, characterized, and found to be more efficient than the commonly used multi-layer based multiplexing scheme for LED arrays. Based on in vivo tests performed in cooperation with project partners, he concluded that a single μLED is capable of efficiently stimulating optogenetically modified nerve cells in the cochlea. It was further demonstrated that the μLED arrays of the oCIs reduce the spectral spread, compared to a clinical style electrical cochlear implant, by up to 5 octaves, thereby providing much higher frequency resolution to the cochlear implant patients.

Enya Paschen works now as Behavioural Pharmacology & EEG Team Leader with Ulysses Neuroscience Limited, a private Irish Research and Development Organisation. Eric Klein is now pursuing his scientific interests as a postdoc in the Inst. for Microystems Engineering (IMTEK) at the University of Freiburg.

Award Lectures

Both awardees will present their research in an Extra Bernstein Seminar on January 14 at 17:15 hours in the Bernstein Center Freiburg. Make sure to already mark your calendars for the upcoming event.

For more information please visit the Bernstein-Center Website

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SPECIFICATIONS

FEATURE 

Recording channels 

Sampling rate 

Sampling dynamic range 

High pass filter cut-off 

Low pass filter cut-off 

Amplifier band pass gain 

Band pass roll-off 

Reference


Stimulation 

Stimulation channels 

Current 

Current source 

Pulse width 

Power supply 

Wireless data transmission 

Closed Loop latency

VALUE

32 

1 kHz 

16 bit (74 nV smallest increment) 

ca. 2 Hz 

325 Hz 

Adjustable: 100-750 

20 dB/dec 

Any (subset) of the recording channels selectable by software or one dedicated hard-wired additional contact 

Current-controlled, biphasic, rectangular, asymmetric stimulus pulses (cathodic amplitude with pulse width followed by an anodic counter pulse of 1/4x amplitude and 4x pulse width) 

 32 

Max. -6 mA / +1.5 mA (24 µA increments) within

 compliance voltage range of -11 V to +5 V 

Can be directed to any of the 32 electrode contacts 

Negative phase: 10 µs – 2,500 µs

Wireless inductive, 120-140 kHz

Bi-directional, radio frequency in 2400-2483.5 MHz band ≤ 40 ms