Benoit Gosselin of Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering | Université Laval

The next generation of biomedical technologies will move beyond passive monitoring toward systems capable of interacting intelligently with the human body. This talk explores how integrated circuits are at the core of this transformation, enabling a new class of bioelectronic systems that can sense, interpret, and act in real time.

We present a unified research vision spanning neurotechnology, intelligent prosthetics, physiological sensing, and wireless systems. At the heart of this work is the development of closed-loop platforms that combine neural recording, embedded machine learning, and targeted actuation, illustrated through applications such as optogenetic spinal implants for chronic pain modulation and high-resolution interfaces for intuitive prosthetic control.

These systems rely on advances across multiple layers, including ultra-low-power sensing circuits, on-device intelligence, and energy-efficient RF communication. By tightly integrating these components, it becomes possible to move from data acquisition to adaptive intervention, enabling precise and personalized therapies.

Ultimately, this convergence of circuits, systems, and biology is redefining how we interact with living systems, opening the door to intelligent biomedical technologies that can restore function, enhance autonomy, and transform patient care.

Biography:

Benoit Gosselin received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from École Polytechnique de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada, in 2009. He was an NSERC postdoctoral fellow at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA, in 2010. He is currently a Full Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada, where he holds a Canada Research Chair in Smart Biomedical Microsystems. His research focuses on the development of intelligent healthcare systems and innovative tools for neuroscience.

Professor Gosselin has led major research initiatives aimed at developing cutting-edge technologies to improve therapeutic approaches for neurodegenerative diseases, notably by enabling detailed observation of brain dynamics in living animal models. His innovations integrate optogenetics, electrophysiology, fiber photometry, and spectroscopy into miniaturized instrumentation platforms. Another focus of his work is the development of intelligent controllers for hand prostheses based on high-density electromyography sensing, powered by data-driven artificial intelligence.

Professor Gosselin is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and has received several major distinctions, including the NSERC Brockhouse Canada Prize, the OIQ Génie Innovation Award, and the First Prize Best Paper Award (2022) from the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. He is the founder and chair of the IEEE CAS/EMB Quebec joint chapter and has served on the organizing committees of numerous IEEE international conferences, including NEWCAS (General Chair, 2022; Technical Program Chair, 2019, 2021), EMBC (Program Chair, 2020), BioCAS, and ISCAS. He also serves as an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering (2025–present) and IEEE Sensors Journal (2022–present), and previously for IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems (2016–2023).