Monash Neurobionics Laboratory

The Neurobionics Laboratory is a joint research group between the Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering and the Department of Physiology at Monash University. Our research focuses on the development of neural prostheses and systems neuroscience.

Our lab is working to improve and develop a wide range of neural prostheses, including Brain Machine Interfaces for upper limb control, bionic eyes, and cochlear implants. We are particularly interested in developing new recording technologies, and utilizing novel neuroscience approaches like the local field potential to improve the efficacy of devices.

On the basic neuroscience side, we study the role of the local field potentials in communication across brain areas and potential roles in multi-effector decision making, reward learning and movement planning.

Lab head

Dr Yan Tat Wong

Yan received his PhD for work towards the design and development of a vision prosthetic microchip and novel electrode organizations for current focusing from the University of New South Wales in 2009. For his postdoctoral work, he joined the Center for Neural Science at New York University studying the role of spike-LFP interactions in the Posterior Parietal Cortex on movement planning, as well as developing a Brain Machine Interface for high-dimensional upper limb control. After that he was part of the Electrical and Electronic Engineering department at the University of Melbourne and National Vision Research Institute working on the development of neural prostheses and the understanding of neural circuit dynamics.

Postdoctoral research fellows

Dr Maureen Ann Hagan (DECRA Fellow)

Dr Mojtaba Kermani

Current PhD students

Mr Ishara Paranawithana

Ms Sabrina Meikle

Mr Timothy Allison-Walker

Mr Darren Mao

Mr Jose Arganaras

Mr Brian Oakley

• Wong, YT, Fabiszak, MM, Novikov, Y, Daw, ND & Pesaran, B 2016, ‘Coherent neuronal ensembles are rapidly recruited when making a look-reach decision’, Nature Neuroscience, vol. 19, no.2, pp.327–334
• Hawellek, DJ, Wong, YT & Pesaran, B, 2016, ‘Temporal coding of reward-guided choice in the posterior parietal cortex’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, vol. 113, no.47, pp.13492–13497, doi:10.1073/pnas.1606479113
• Oxley, TJ, Opie, NL, John, SE, Rind, GS, Ronayne, SM, Wheeler, TL, Judy, JW, McDonald, AJ, Dornom, A, Lovell, TJH,Steward,C,Garrett, DJ, Moffat, BA, Lui, EH, Yassi, N, Campbell, BCV, Wong, YT, Fox, KE, Nurse, ES, Bennett, IE, Bauquier, SH, Liyanage, KA,van der Nagel, NR, Perucca, P, Ahnood, A, Gill, KP, Yan, B, Churilov, L, French, CR, Desmond, PM, Horne, MK, Kiers, L, Prawer, S, Davis, SM, Burkitt, AN, Mitchell, PJ, Grayden, DB, May, CN & O’Brien, TJ, 2016, ‘Minimally invasive endovascular stent-electrode array for high-fidelity, chronic recordings of cortical neural activity’, Nature Biotechnology
• Opie, NL, John, SE, Rind, GS, Ronayne, SM, Wong, YT, Gerboni, G, Yoo, PE, Lovell, TJH, Scordas, TCM, Wilson, SL, Dornom,A, Vale, T, O’Brien, TJ, Grayden, DB, May, CN & Oxley, TJ 2018, ‘Focal stimulation of the sheep motor cortex with a chronically implanted minimally invasive electrode array mounted on an endovascular stent’, Nature Biomedical Engineering, vol. 2, no. 12, pp. 907–914, doi:10.1038/s41551-018-0321-z
• Yoo, PE, Hagan, MA, John, SE, Opie, NL, Ordidge, RJ, O’Brien, TJ, Oxley, TJ, Moffat, BA & Wong, YT, 2018, ‘Spatially dynamic recurrent information flow across long-range dorsal motor network encodes selective motor goals’, Human Brain Mapping, vol.39, no.6, pp.2635–2650, doi:10.1002/hbm.24029
• Wong, YT, Feleppa, T, Mohan, A, Damien, B, Julian, S, Jeffrey, R & Arthur, L 2019, ‘CMOS stimulating chips capable of wirelessly driving 473 electrodes for a cortical vision prosthesis’, Journal of Neural Engineering
• Gerboni, G, John, SE, Rind, GS, Ronayne, SM, May, CN, Oxley, TJ, Grayden, DB, Opie, NL & Wong, YT, 2018, ‘Visual evoked potentials determine chronic signal quality in a stent-electrode endovascular neural interface’, Biomedical Physics & Engineering Express, vol.4, no.5, pp.055018, doi:10.1088/2057-1976/aad714
• Wong, YT, Halupka, K, Kameneva, T, Cloherty, SL, Grayden, DB, Burkitt, AN, Meffin, H & Shivdasani, MN 2016, ‘Spectral distribution of local field potential responses to electrical stimulation of the retina.’, Journal of Neural Engineering, vol. 13, no.3, pp.036003
• Markowitz, DA, Wong, YT, Gray, CM & Pesaran, B, 2011, ‘Optimizing the decoding of movement goals from local field potentials in macaque cortex.’, The Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 31, no.50, pp. 18412–22, doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4165-11.2011
• Markowitz, DA, Shewcraft, RA, Wong, YT & Pesaran, B, 2011, ‘Competition for visual selection in the oculomotor system.’, The Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 31, no. 25, pp. 9298–9306, doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0908-11.2011
• Wong, YT, Chen, SC, Seo, JM, Morley, JW, Lovell, NH & Suaning, GJ, 2009, ‘Focal activation of the feline retina via a suprachoroidal electrode array.’, Vision Research, vol. 49, no.8, pp. 825–33

For inquiries please contact:

Dr Yan Tat Wong

yan.wong@monash.edu

+61 3 9905 1935

Rm 220 14 Alliance Lane,

Monash University, 3800

Victoria

Australia