James Hope

James received his B.E. from The University of Auckland in 2008, then spent several years working as engineer overseas in the UK. He returned to NZ in 2015 for postgraduate study, completing his MEngSt in Medical Devices and Technologies later that year with the research component on integration of shape memory alloys into a wrist and forearm exoskeleton. During his work on exoskeletons he developed an interest in neural prosthetics and neural interfaces, and is currently undertaking his PhD in this field under the supervision of Dr Andrew McDaid and Dr Frederique Vanholsbeeck.

James’ current research focuses on improving the performance of a nerve-cuff, in recording neural activity within a peripheral nerve, to a level suitable for control of synchronous movements in robotic prosthetic limbs. The approach is to implement electrical impedance tomography, a tomographic imaging modality with electrical impedance as its contrast agent, in a nerve cuff. Experiments will attempt to resolve multiple concurrent signals, at the sub-fascicle level, using in-vivo testing on animal models. Other aspects of the research include non-invasive imaging of tissue morphology using optical coherence tomography, tissue impedance modelling and measurement, and electrode configurations for anisotropic conductivity.

Contact: jhop030@aucklanduni.ac.nz

Selected Publications

Hope, J., Aristovich, K. Y., Chapman, C. A. R., Volschenk, A., Vanholsbeeck, F., & McDaid, A. (2019). Extracting impedance changes from a frequency multiplexed signal during neural activity in sciatic nerve of rat: preliminary study in-vitro. Physiological measurement 40(3) 034006. http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1361-6579/ab0c24

Hope, J., Aristovich, K., Chapman, C., Vanholsbeeck, F., & McDaid, A., (2019) Optimal frequency range for electrical impedance tomography of neural activity in peripheral nerve, in 9th International IEEE EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering, San Fransisco, USA, March 20-23, 2019.

Hope, J., Vanholsbeeck, F., & McDavid, A. (2018). Drive and measurement electrode patterns for electrode impedance tomography (EIT) imaging of neural activity in peripheral nerve. Biomedical physics & engineering express, 4(6). http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/2057-1976/aadff3

Hope, J., Braeuer, B., Amirapu, S., McDaid, A., & Vanholsbeeck, F. (2018). Extracting morphometric information from rat sciatic nerve using optical coherence tomography. Journal of biomedical optics, 23 (11), 1-14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/1.jbo.23.11.116001

Hope, J., Vanholsbeeck, F., & McDaid, A. J., (2018). The specific impedance of the intra-fascicle environment obtained via nerve fibre models, in XXII Congress of the International Society of Electrophysiology and Kinesiology, Dublin, Ireland. 30 June – 2 July 2018.

Hope, J., Vanholsbeeck, F., & McDaid, A. (2018). A model of electrical impedance tomography implemented in nerve-cuff for neural-prosthetics control. Physiological measurement, 39 (4). http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1361-6579/aab73a

Hope, J., & McDaid, A. (2017). Development of wearable wrist and forearm exoskeleton with shape memory alloy actuators. Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems, 86 (3-4), 397-417. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10846-016-0456-7