Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Publications
Contact Information
UPMC Vision Institute
UPMC Mercy Pavilion
1622 Locust Street Room 8.393
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
x.chen@pitt.edu
Research Focus
The Chen lab develops high-channel-count, chronically implantable devices to record from and stimulate the brain. We harness cutting-edge developments in electrode fabrication and microelectronics to improve probe durability and biocompatibility, generating fundamental neuroscientific knowledge and translating results from the lab to the clinic.
Our applications include the restoration of life-enhancing vision in the blind. Blindness affects 40 million people worldwide, with a wide variety of causes, including injury to or degeneration of the retina and optic nerve. Brain implants interface directly with visual regions in the brain, bypassing the retina and optic nerve to produce artificially generated percepts without input from the eye.
We use devices with >1000 channels to interface with large areas of the visual cortex, delivering tiny electrical currents to elicit the perception of dots of light (known as ‘phosphenes’). We deliver stimulation across multiple electrodes simultaneously, inducing percepts composed of multiple phosphenes, and causing our subjects to see movement and simple shapes such as letters.
Our work has been featured in numerous international and national newspapers, radio, and television, including CNN, Science Magazine, Science Podcasts, Scientific American, Het Parool, De Volkskrant, El País, NOS, NPO Radio, and RTL News.
Selected Patents/Patent Applications
Roelfsema, P. R., & Chen, X. A neuroprosthetic system and method for substituting a sensory modality of a mammal by high-density electrical stimulation of a region of the cerebral cortex. EP3632503A1, filed Nov 1, 2018 (granted).
Roelfsema, P. R., Chen, X., Li, B., Lozano, A. M. O., Wang, F., La Grouw, M. A computer-implemented method of mapping electrodes of a brain prosthesis. EP22206219.2, filed Nov 8, 2022 (pending).