Specializations
Engineering, Health Sciences, Machine Learning, Neuroscience
Biography
UW Mentors
Ione Fine, Psychology
Ariel Rokem, eScience Institute
Education History
Ph.D., Computer Science, University of California, Irvine (May 2016)
M.Sc., Biomedical Engineering, ETH Zurich, Switzerland, 2011
B.Sc., Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, ETH Zurich, Switzerland, 2009
Research Goals
Michael Beyeler’s research focuses on developing and testing neurophysiologically inspired algorithms for improved stimulation protocols in patients implanted with retinal prostheses. By 2020 roughly 200 million people will suffer from retinal diseases such as macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa.
In order to target these diseases, prostheses are being developed to directly stimulate remaining healthy cells in the retina of blind patients. However, translating visual input into electrical pulses that elicit desired visual percepts is nontrivial and requires a deep understanding of the sensory processing in the human retina.
Beyeler’s aim is to further our understanding of how these devices interact with the underlying retinal circuitry by leveraging both computational and data-driven approaches, in order to develop the algorithms and tools that power the sight restoration technologies of tomorrow.