N. W. Prins

Research Interests

• Neurophysiology
• Brain-computer and Brain-machine interfaces
• Machine learning
• Electronics
• Application of engineering principles to nervous system disorders
• Biomechanics

Collaborations

• Computer Assisted Rehabilitation in Improving Hand Function in Patients with Stroke. A collaborative research between Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine. Clinical Trial Registration No: SLCTR/2020/019. Ethical clearance: 2020.P.050 (19.05.2020).

• EE7206 Machine Learning
• EE6209 Introduction to Biomedical Engineering
• E3301 Analog Electronics
• EE4303 Digital Electronics

Thesis

• Synchronous control of a Reinforcement Learning Based Brain-Machine Interface with Biological Feedback

Peer Reviewed Journals

• N. W. Prins, R. Mylavarapu, A. M. Shoup, S. Debnath, and A. Prasad, “Spinal cord neural interfacing in common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus),” Journal of neural engineering, vol. 17, p. 016031, 2020.
• S Debnath, N. W. Prins, E. Pohlmeyer, R. Mylavarapu, S. Geng, J. C. Sanchez, et al., “Long-term stability of neural signals from microwire arrays implanted in common marmoset motor cortex and striatum,” Biomedical physics & engineering express, vol. 4, p. 055025, 2018.
• K. Gant, S. Guerra, L. Zimmerman, B. A. Parks, N. W. Prins, and A. Prasad, “EEG-controlled functional electrical stimulation for hand opening and closing in chronic complete cervical spinal cord injury,” Biomedical Physics & Engineering Express, vol. 4, p. 065005, 2018.
• N. W. Prins, E. A. Pohlmeyer, S. Debnath, R. Mylavarapu, S. Geng, J. C. Sanchez, et al., “Common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) as a primate model for behavioral neuroscience studies,” Journal of neuroscience methods, vol. 284, pp. 35-46, 2017.
• N. W. Prins, J. C. Sanchez, and A. Prasad, “Feedback for reinforcement learning based brain–machine interfaces using confidence metrics,” Journal of neural engineering, vol. 14, p. 036016, 2017.
• N. W. Prins, J. C. Sanchez, and A. Prasad, “A confidence metric for using neurobiological feedback in actor-critic reinforcement learning based brain-machine interfaces,” Frontiers in neuroscience, vol. 8, p. 111, 2014.
• E. A. Pohlmeyer, B. Mahmoudi, S. Geng, N. W. Prins, and J. Sanchez, “Using Reinforcement Learning to Provide Stable Brain-Machine Interface Control,” PLOS One, 2014.
• B. Mahmoudi, E. A. Pohlmeyer, N. W. Prins, S. Geng, and J. C. Sanchez, “Towards autonomous neuroprosthetic control using Hebbian reinforcement learning,” Journal of neural engineering, vol. 10, p. 066005, 2013.

Indexed Peer Reviewed Full Length Conference Papers

• N. W. Prins, S. Geng, E. A. Pohlmeyer, B. Mahmoudi, and J. C. Sanchez, “Feature extraction and unsupervised classification of neural population reward signals for reinforcement based BMI,” in 2013 35th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2013, pp. 5250-5253.
• N. W. Prins, S. Geng, E. A. Pohlmeyer, A. Prasad, and J. C. Sanchez, “Representation of natural arm and robotic arm movement in the striatum of a marmoset engaged in a two choice task,” in 2013 6th International IEEE/EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering (NER), 2013, pp. 399-402.
• S. Geng, N. W. Prins, E. A. Pohlmeyer, A. Prasad, and J. C. Sanchez, “Extraction of error related local field potentials from the striatum during environmental perturbations of a robotic arm,” in 2013 6th International IEEE/EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering (NER), 2013, pp. 993-996.
• E. A. Pohlmeyer, B. Mahmoudi, S. Geng, N. W. Prins, and J. C. Sanchez, “Brain-machine interface control of a robot arm using actor-critic rainforcement learning,” in 2012 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2012, pp. 4108-4111.

Talks and Presentations

• 1. Prins, N. W., (2020 Jan) Introduction to neuroengineering and its current applications. Mechanical Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka

• 2. Prins, N. W., (2019 Nov) Brain-Machine Interfaces for Restoring Upper Extremity Functions in Spinal Cord Injury. Grand Rounds of the Department of Neurological Surgery and the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, University of Miami, FL, USA

• 3. Prins, N. W., (2016 May) Neural Engineering and its relevance to Sri Lanka. Mechanical & Biomedical Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka

• 4. Prins, N. W., (2016 May) Introduction to Neural Engineering and its relevance to Sri Lanka. Electrical Engineering, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka

• 5. Prins, N. W., Sanchez, J. C., & Prasad, A. (2015 October). Feedback For Reinforcement Learning Based Brain-Machine Interfaces Using Confidence Metrics. Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), Tampa, FL.

• 6. Prins, N. W., & de Snoo T.P. (2015 June) Christian Perspective on Neural Engineering. 2015 Christian Engineering Conference of Christian Engineering Society, Seattle, WA.

Abstracts

• 1. Prins, N. W.*, Cajigas, I*, Naeem, J. A., Gallo, S., Palermo, A. E., Wilson, A., Fisher, L., Vanni, S., Ivan, M. E., Jagid, J. R., Prasad, A. (2019 October). A Fully Implantable Brain Machine Interface for Hand Grasp in Cervical Spinal Cord Injury, Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), Philadelphia, PA. *Authors contributed equally.

• 2. Prins, N. W.*, Cajigas, I*, Gallo, S., Naeem, J. A., Palermo, A. E., Wilson, A., Fisher, L., Vanni, S., Ivan, M. E., Jagid, J. R., Prasad, A. (2019 October). A fully implantable brain machine interface for restoration of functional hand grasp in cervical SCI, Society for Neuroscience, Chicago, IL. *Authors contributed equally.

• 3. Prins, N. W.*, Cajigas, I*, Gallo, S., Naeem, J. A., Guerra, S., Parks, B., Palermo, A. E., Wilson, A., Fisher, L., Vanni, S., Ivan, M. E., Prasad, A., Jagid, J. R. (2019 October). A Fully Implantable Brain Machine Interface for Volitional Hand Grasp Restoration in Cervical Quadriplegia, Congress of Neurological Surgeons 2019 Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA. *Authors contributed equally.

• 4. Prins, N. W.*, Cajigas, I*, Gallo, S., Naeem, J. A., Guerra, S., Parks, B., Palermo, A. E., Wilson, A., Zimmerman, L., Gant, K., Fisher, L., Perez, M., A., Nash, M. S., Vanni, S., Ivan, M. E., Jagid, J. R., Prasad, A. (2019 April), A Fully Implantable Brain Machine Interface for Restoration of Functional Hand Grasp in Cervical Quadriplegia, Neural Engineering Research Symposium, Miami, FL. *Authors contributed equally.

• 5. Prins, N. W., Debnath, S., Mylavarapu R., Prasad, A. (2018 November), Spinal cord neural interface for neuroprosthetics in a primate model, Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA.

• 6. Prins, N. W., Debnath, S., Mylavarapu R., Prasad, A. (2018 June), Spinal Cord Neural Interface for Neuroprosthetics in a Primate Model, Neural Interfaces Conference, Minneapolis, MN

• 7. Prins, N. W., Gant, K., Guerra, S., Parks, B., Zimmerman, L., Prasad, A. (2017 November), EEG-controlled functional electrical stimulation (FES) for hand opening and closing in subjects with chronic complete cervical spinal cord injury, Society for Neuroscience, Washington D.C.

• 8. Debnath, S., Prins, N. W., Mylavarapu R., Pohlmeyer, E. A., Geng, S., Sanchez, J. C. & Prasad, A. (2017 November), Chronic intracortical recordings from microelectrode arrays implanted in common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus), Society for Neuroscience, Washington D.C.

• 9. Mylavarapu R., Prins, N. W., Debnath, S., Castro, A., Geng, S., Pohlmeyer, E. A., Sanchez, J. C. & Prasad, A. (2017 November), Motor cortex spiking and local field potentials (LFP) during a reaching task in common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus), Society for Neuroscience, Washington D.C.

• 10. Gant, K., Prins, N. W., Guerra, S., Zimmerman, L., Parks, B. A., Prasad, A. (2017 July), Comparison of Online and offline accuracy in EEG-controlled functional electrical stimulation of paralyzed hand muscles in subjects with chronic complete cervical spinal cord injury. Progress in Motor Control Conference, Miami, FL

• 11. Parks, B., Cajigas, I., Guerra, S., Prins, N. W., Jermakowicz, W. J., Fisher, L., Dietrich, D., Hentall, I., Jagid, J. R., Prasad, A. (2017 May). Early Feasibility Study of a Medtronic Activa PC+S System for Persons Living with Spinal Cord Injury. Rosomoff Research Day, Miami, FL

• 12. Prins, N. W., Sanchez, J. C., & Prasad A. (2016 October), Using a confidence metric for biological reward signals in actor-critic reinforcement learning brain-machine interfaces. Neural Engineering Research Symposium, Miami, FL.

• 13. Hashemiyoon, R., Prins, N. W., Coito, A., Tomescu, M., Schüller, T., Sildatke, E., Kuhn, J., Visser-Vandewalle, V., & Michel, C. M. (2016 November) The cortical-subcortical circuit dynamics of OCD and Tourette Syndrome as revealed by functional connectivity analysis of simultaneous scalp and depth EEG recordings, Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA.

• 14. Hashemiyoon, R., Prins, N. W., Coito, A., Tomescu, M., Schüller, T., Sildatke, E., Kuhn, J., Visser-Vandewalle, V., & Michel, C. M. (2016 October) Using simultaneous DBS/EEG recordings to understand the circuitry underlying neuropsychiatric disorders, European Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery meeting.

• 15. Hashemiyoon, R., Coito, A., Prins, N. W., Tomescu, M., Schüller, T., Sildatke, E., Kuhn, J., Visser-Vandewalle, V., & Michel, C. M. (2016 March) Effective connectivity of subcortical-cortical networks revealed by simultaneous scalp and depth EEG recordings in humans. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Klinische Neurophysiologie und Funktionelle Bildgebung (DGKN), Düsseldorf, Germany

• 16. Prins, N. W., Sanchez, J. C., & Prasad A. (2015 November), Using a confidence metric with biological reward signals in actor-critic reinforcement learning brain-machine interfaces. BRAIN STATES: Characterization and Neuromodulation by DBS, Cologne, Germany.

• 17. Prins, N. W., Sanchez, J. C., & Prasad, A. (2015 October), Using a confidence metric with biological reward signals in actor-critic reinforcement learning brain-machine interfaces. Society for Neuroscience, Chicago, IL.

• 18. Prins, N. W., Sanchez, J. C., & Prasad, A. (2014 November), Using a Confidence Metric in Neurobiological Feedback for Actor-Critic Reinforcement Learning based Brain-Machine Interfaces. University of Miami Neuroscience Research Day, Coral Gables, FL

• 19. Prins, N. W., Sanchez, J. C., & Prasad, A. (2014 November), Using a Confidence Metric in Neurobiological Feedback for Actor-Critic Reinforcement Learning based Brain-Machine Interfaces. University of Miami Neuroscience Research Day, Coral Gables, FL

• 20. Dura-Bernal, S., Prins, N. W., Neymotin, S., Prasad, A., Sanchez, J. C., Francis, J. T. & Lytton W. W. (2014 April). Evaluating Hebbian reinforcement learning BMI using an in silico brain model and a virtual musculoskeletal arm. Neural Control of Movement, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

• 21. Pohlmeyer, E. A., Geng, S., Prins, N. W., & Sanchez, J. C (2013 November), Deciding to take action: striatum activation during reaching to targets of varying reward value. Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA.

• 22. Roset, S. A., Prins, N. W. , Geng, S., Gonzalez, H. F., Mahmoudi, B., Pohlmeyer, E. A., & Sanchez, J. C. (2013 June), Using Multiple Reward Related Signals in the Adaptation of Neuoprosthetic Decoders, 5th International Brain-Computer Interface Meeting.

• 23. Pohlmeyer, E. A., Mahmoudi, B., Prins, N. W., Geng, S., & Sanchez, J. C. (2012 November), Reinforcement learning as the basis for a brain-machine interface controller of a reaching robot arm. Society for Neuroscience, New Orleans, LA

• 24. Mahmoudi, B., Pohlmeyer, E. A., Geng, S., & Prins, N. W. (2012 November), A hebbian reinforcement learning decoder for brain-machine interfaces. Society for Neuroscience, New Orleans, LA

• 25. Sanchez, J. C., Pohlmeyer, E. A., Mahmoudi, B., Geng, S., & Prins, N. W. (2012 April), Linking Motor and Reward: The Correlation between Nucleus Accumbens and Primary Motor Cortex during Goal Directed Reaching. Neural Control of Movement, Venice, Italy.

• Student Counsellor