Associate Professor Ingvars Birznieks

Contact Details

Phone: +61293858311
Email: ingvars.birznieks@unsw.edu.au

Supervision

ILP
PHD
Masters
Honours

Tabs

Main

Dr Ingvars Birznieks is a sensory neurophysiologist interested in sensory information encoding mechanisms. He received his PhD training at the Umeå University in Sweden and the University of Melbourne, Australia - the leading laboratories in the field of somatosensory research.

During his postdoctoral studies at the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute in Sydney, he broadened his research competence investigating proprioception, muscle pain mechanisms and function of the autonomic nervous system.

From 2011 to 2014 he held an academic position of Senior Lecturer (Physiology) at the School of Science and Health at the Western Sydney University where he engaged in Biomedical Engineering and Neuroscience (BENS) research program at MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour & Development.

Since 2014 he is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Physiology, School of Medical Sciences, UNSW Medicine in Sydney. In the role of a Senior Research Fellow he leads the Tactile research group at the Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA).

His research primarily comprises range of studies related to the function of tactile receptors and sensorimotor control of the human hand. However, his ultimate goal is to use this fundamental knowledge and develop two branches of collaborative networks - one with clinicians, which would be aimed to develop new methods for evaluation of sensorimotor function in different groups of patients, while the second branch would be aimed to work with biomedical engineers to create artificial sensors and control algorithms for prosthesis and robotic manipulators resembling functionality of the human hand.

University role:

Associate Professor

Grants:

Birznieks I. Sensory mechanisms underlying human dexterity in object manipulation. ARC discovery project grant. App Id: DP170100064 $365,500; Funding for 2017-2019

Breen P., Stiefel K., Birznieks I., Penkala S. A novel electrical device to restore sensory feeling lost due to disease and ageing. NHMRC Project Grant Funding Round. App Id: APP1067353 $308,247; Funding for 2014-2016

Birznieks I., Khamis H. Sensorimotor control of hand movement and dexterous object manipulation. 2013 UWS School of Science and Health Strategic Research Investment grant. $30,000

Birznieks I., Redmond S.J., Macefield V.G. The encoding of friction by tactile mechanoreceptors – the key to fingertip force control during dexterous object manipulation by humans. ARC discovery project grant. App Id: DP110104691 $290,000; Funding for 2012-2014

Birznieks I., Vickery R.M., Macefield V.G., Krishnan A.V. Information encoding by temporal structure of afferent spike trains evoked by complex vibrotactile stimuli. NHMRC Project Grant Funding Round. App Id: APP1028284 $231,175; Funding for 2012-2014

Macefield V.G., Birznieks I. The effects of tonic muscle pain on the sympathetic and somatic motor systems in human subjects. NHMRC Project Grant Funding Round. App Id: APP1028284 $447,350; Funding for 2012-2014

Seizova-Cajic T., Birznieks I. Adaptation and aftereffects in perception of tactile motion. ARC discovery project grant. App Id: DP110104691 $160, 000; Funding for 2011-2013

Keywords:

neuroscience

computational neuroscience

sensory processing

touch

touch perception

bionics

haptics

biomedical engineering

robotics

stroke

stroke rehabilitation

vibro-tactile

sensory systems

sensory physiology

prostheses

Groups:

Sensory Neuroscience

Research

Research activities:

Our research comprises a range of studies related to the sense of touch in various contexts being it clinically relevant like for example stroke, pain, diabetic neuropathy, loss of limb or solving engineering problems by borrowing ideas from biological systems to build dexterous robotic manipulators and prosthesis which can also feel.

Our research program is interdisciplinary and relies on innovative platform capabilities linking the neurosciences, medicine and engineering disciplines.

Neural code – the language of the nervous system; how to eavesdrop and understand neural communication and how to send our own messages through this channel

Touch receptors in the fingertips communicate with the brain using short electrical impulses also called spikes. My research is about how those impulses encode information and how it is interpreted by the brain. To address these questions we have learned to create those exact patterns of spikes in touch neurons using non-invasive mechanical stimuli. This technology is unique to our laboratory and has been developed over several years of tight collaboration between Dr Richard Vickery and me. We have gained unprecedented access to neural communication at the level of single neurons and the ability to investigate how spiking activity in those neurons influences perceptual experience. With this knowledge of neural code and non-invasive access to the communication channel we can “trick” the brain into thinking it is touching objects that are our artificial constructs.

Dexterity of the human hand – how hand movements are controlled by sense of touch and how this knowledge could be used to build a robotic or bionic hands

The dexterity of the human hand still remains unmatched by the most advanced artificial devices - largely because it is not understood how relevant sensory information is extracted and utilised. My research builds upon interdisciplinary technologies integrating sensory and computational neuroscience and biomedical engineering. It is directed to gain understanding of the sophisticated sensory and motor control mechanisms underlying the unique human ability to manipulate objects and use tools. Extending beyond the fundamental scientific focus of understanding sense of touch, this research is aimed to inform the development of next generation sensory-controlled bionic systems and tele-sensory haptics devices including telesurgery robots.

Stroke - distorted touch perception after stroke

Recovery of hand dexterity after stroke cannot be achieved in the absence of tactile sensory information, but the interpretation of this input requires that orderly somatotopic representation of hand’s skin has to be preserved. Unfortunately, this is not necessarily the case after substantial reorganization of neural connectivity following brain tissue damage due to stroke. This research is important as without tactile sensory information, functional use of the hand is hardly possible, even when motor system is intact. Rehabilitation efforts that do not address this can bring only limited improvements.

You can read more about the research projects and research team [here]

Teaching & Supervision

I am available to supervise:

Yes

Areas of supervision:

Supervision is available for students of Science, Medical science, Biomedical engineering, Computer science and Robotics.

PhD, Honours, Masters and ILP students are welcome. For PhD students there is opportunity to be involved in collaborative projects in France and Sweden.

Areas of interest: Neuroscience, sensory systems, touch, information encoding, bionics, artificial intelligence, hand prosthesis, computational neuroscience, stroke, diabetic neuropathy, biomedical engineering, robotics and haptics.

Project examples:

Neural coding in the sense of touch.

Sensorimotor control of human hand in the context of object manipulation (fundamental neurobiology, computational neuroscience, prosthetics, robotics. This project is suitable for medical science and engineering students).

Deciphering the neural code: recordings of nerve signals from single sensory neurons (tactile afferents) in humans (microneurography).

Bionics of the sense of touch – interdisciplinary project joining medical sciences and engineering. This theme has projects suitable for medical, biomedical science and engineering students of various specialisations interested in bionics of sensory systems and design of biomimetic artificial sensors, for example, biomedical, mechatronic, electrical, software, telecommunications and chemical engineering.

Supervision keywords:

neuroscience

computational neuroscience

sensory systems

sensory physiology

sensory processing

touch

touch perception

bionics

haptics

prostheses

robotics

computational biology

Media

Blog Feed URL:

https://www.neura.edu.au/staff/dr-ingvars-birznieks/

Publications related to this Person

Book Chapters

Redmond SJ; Birznieks I; Lovell NH; Goodwin AW, 2010, 'Classifying torque, normal force and direction using monkey afferent nerve spike rates', in Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), edn. PART 1, pp. 43 - 50, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14064-8_7

Birznieks I, 2010, 'Neuroprosthesis - theory and praxis', in Gedrovics J; Raipulis J (ed.), Special honorary collection of articles: Scientiae et adulescentiae/For science and youth, edn. 1, RTTEMA, Riga, pp. 60 - 68

Journal articles

Birznieks I; Gerling GJ; Sergi F; Bensmaia SJ, 2016, 'Haptics in Neuroscience', IEEE Transactions on Haptics, vol. 9, pp. 443 - 445, http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TOH.2016.2627738

McIntyre S; Birznieks I; Vickery RM; Holcombe AO; Seizova-Cajic T, 2016, 'The tactile motion aftereffect suggests an intensive code for speed in neurons sensitive to both speed and direction of motion', Journal of Neurophysiology, vol. 115, pp. 1703 - 1712, http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/jn.00460.2015

Kasi P; Wright J; Khamis H; Birznieks I; Van Schaik A, 2016, 'The Bayesian decoding of force stimuli from slowly adapting type I fibers in humans', PLoS ONE, vol. 11, http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0153366

Birznieks I; Logina I; Wasner G, 2016, 'Somatotopic mismatch of hand representation following stroke: is recovery possible?', Neurocase, vol. 22, pp. 95 - 102, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13554794.2015.1046886

Hudson KM; Condon M; Ackerley R; McGlone F; Olausson H; Macefield VG; Birznieks I, 2015, 'Effects of changing skin mechanics on the differential sensitivity to surface compliance by tactile afferents in the human finger pad', Journal of Neurophysiology, vol. 114, pp. 2249 - 2257, http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/jn.00176.2014

Nagi SS; Dunn JS; Birznieks I; Vickery RM; Mahns DA, 2015, 'The effects of preferential A- and C-fibre blocks and T-type calcium channel antagonist on detection of low-force monofilaments in healthy human participants', BMC Neuroscience, vol. 16, http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12868-015-0190-2

Khamis H; Birznieks I; Redmond SJ, 2015, 'Decoding tactile afferent activity to obtain an estimate of instantaneous force and torque applied to the fingerpad', Journal of Neurophysiology, vol. 114, pp. 474 - 484, http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/jn.00040.2015

Arabzadeh E; Clifford CWG; Harris JA; Mahns DA; Macefield VG; Birznieks I, 2014, 'Single tactile afferents outperform human subjects in a vibrotactile intensity discrimination task', Journal of Neurophysiology, vol. 112, pp. 2382 - 2387, http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/jn.00482.2014

Condon M; Birznieks I; Hudson K; Chelvanayagam DK; Mahns D; Olausson H; Macefield VG, 2014, 'Differential sensitivity to surface compliance by tactile afferents in the human finger pad', Journal of Neurophysiology, vol. 111, pp. 1308 - 1317, http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/jn.00589.2013

Fazalbhoy A; Birznieks I; Macefield VG, 2014, 'Consistent interindividual increases or decreases in muscle sympathetic nerve activity during experimental muscle pain', Experimental Brain Research, vol. 232, pp. 1309 - 1315, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00221-014-3847-7

Fazalbhoy A; Macefield VG; Birznieks I, 2013, 'Tonic muscle pain does not increase fusimotor drive to human leg muscles: Implications for chronic muscle pain', Experimental Physiology, vol. 98, pp. 1125 - 1132, http://dx.doi.org/10.1113/expphysiol.2012.071670

Hall SC; Fazalbhoy A; Birznieks I; MacEfield VG, 2012, 'Biphasic effects of tonic stimulation of muscle nociceptors on skin sympathetic nerve activity in human subjects', Experimental Brain Research, vol. 221, pp. 107 - 114, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00221-012-3156-y

McIntyre S; Holcombe AO; Birznieks I; Seizova-Cajic T, 2012, 'Tactile Motion Adaptation Reduces Perceived Speed but Shows No Evidence of Direction Sensitivity', PLoS ONE, vol. 7, http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0045438

Fazalbhoy A; Birznieks I; Macefield VG, 2012, 'Individual differences in the cardiovascular responses to tonic muscle pain: Parallel increases or decreases in muscle sympathetic nerve activity, blood pressure and heart rate', Experimental Physiology, vol. 97, pp. 1084 - 1092, http://dx.doi.org/10.1113/expphysiol.2012.066191

Birznieks I; Logina I; Wasner G, 2012, 'Somatotopic mismatch following stroke: a pathophysiological condition escaping detection.', BMJ case reports, vol. 2012

Birznieks I; Logina I; Wasner G, 2012, 'Somatotopic mismatch following stroke: A pathophysiological condition escaping detection', BMJ Case Reports, http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2012-006304

Birznieks I; Boonstra TW; Macefield VG, 2012, 'Modulation of human muscle spindle discharge by arterial pulsations - functional effects and consequences', PLoS ONE, vol. 7, http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0035091

Chan GSH; Fazalbhoy A; Birznieks I; Macefield VG; Middleton PM; Lovell NH, 2012, 'Spontaneous fluctuations in the peripheral photoplethysmographic waveform: Roles of arterial pressure and muscle sympathetic nerve activity', American Journal of Physiology - Heart and Circulatory Physiology, vol. 302, http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/ajpheart.00970.2011

Birznieks I; Wheat HE; Redmond SJ; Salo LM; Lovell NH; Goodwin AW, 2010, 'Encoding of tangential torque in responses of tactile afferent fibres innervating the fingerpad of the monkey', Journal of Physiology, vol. 588, pp. 1057 - 1072, http://dx.doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.2009.185314

Rajaratnam SM; Polymeropoulos MH; Fisher DM; Roth T; Scott C; Birznieks G; Klerman EB, 2009, 'Melatonin agonist tasimelteon (VEC-162) for transient insomnia after sleep-time shift: two randomised controlled multicentre trials.', Lancet, vol. 373, pp. 482 - 491, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61812-7

Burton AR; Birznieks I; Bolton PS; Henderson LA; Macefield VG, 2009, 'Effects of deep and superficial experimentally induced acute pain on muscle sympathetic nerve activity in human subjects', Journal of Physiology, vol. 587, pp. 183 - 193, http://dx.doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.2008.162230

Burton AR; Birznieks I; Spaak J; Henderson LA; MacEfield VG, 2009, 'Effects of deep and superficial experimentally induced acute pain on skin sympathetic nerve activity in human subjects', Experimental Brain Research, vol. 195, pp. 317 - 324, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00221-009-1790-9

Birznieks I; Macefield VG; Westling G; Johansson RS, 2009, 'Slowly adapting mechanoreceptors in the borders of the human fingernail encode fingertip forces', Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 29, pp. 9370 - 9379, http://dx.doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0143-09.2009

Birznieks I; Burton AR; Macefield VG, 2008, 'The effects of experimental muscle and skin pain on the static stretch sensitivity of human muscle spindles in relaxed leg muscles', Journal of Physiology, vol. 586, pp. 2713 - 2723, http://dx.doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.2008.151746

Johansson RS; Birznieks I, 2004, 'First spikes in ensembles of human tactile afferents code complex spatial fingertip events', Nature Neuroscience, vol. 7, pp. 170 - 177, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nn1177

Jenmalm P; Birznieks I; Goodwin AW; Johansson RS, 2003, 'Influence of object shape on responses of human tactile afferents under conditions characteristic of manipulation', European Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 18, pp. 164 - 176, http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1460-9568.2003.02721.x

Birznieks I; Jenmalm P; Goodwin AW; Johansson RS, 2001, 'Encoding of direction of fingertip forces by human tactile afferents', Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 21, pp. 8222 - 8237

Jenmalm P; Birznieks I; Goodwin A; Johansson R, 1999, 'Differential responses in populations of fingertip tactile afferents to objects' surface curvatures.', Acta Physiol Scand, vol. 167, pp. A24 - A25, http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-201x.1999.600af.x

Birznieks I; Jenmalm P; Goodwin A; Johansson R, 1999, 'Directional encoding of fingertip force by human tactile afferents.', Acta Physiol Scand, vol. 167, pp. A24, http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-201x.1999.600ae.x

Birznieks I; Burstedt MKO; Edin BB; Johansson RS, 1998, 'Mechanisms for force adjustments to unpredictable frictional changes at individual digits during two-fingered manipulation', Journal of Neurophysiology, vol. 80, pp. 1989 - 2002, http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/jn.1998.80.4.1989

Burstedt GKO; Birznieks I; Edin BB; Johansson RS, 1997, 'Control of forces applied by individual fingers engaged in restraint of an active object', Journal of Neurophysiology, vol. 78, pp. 117 - 128, http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/jn.1997.78.1.117

Conference Papers

Khamis H; Redmond S; Macefield V; Birznieks I, 2014, 'Classification of Texture and Frictional Condition at Initial Contact by Tactile Afferent Responses', in Auvray M; Duriez C (eds.), Haptics: Neuroscience, Devices, Modeling, and Applications, Springer, Heidelberg, pp. 460 - 468, presented at Haptics: Neuroscience, Devices, Modeling, and Applications 2014, 01 - 01 January 2014, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44193-0_58

Seizova-Cajic T; Karlsson K; Bergstrom S; McIntyre S; Birznieks I, 2014, 'Lateral skin stretch influences direction judgments of motion across the skin', in Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), pp. 425 - 431, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44193-0_53

McIntyre S; Seizova-Cajic T; Birznieks I; Holcombe AO; Vickery RM, 2014, 'Adaptation to motion presented with a tactile array.', in Auvray M; Duriez C (eds.), Lecture Notes in Computer Science - Haptics: Neuroscience, Devices, Modeling, and Applications, Springer, Versailles, pp. 351 - 359, presented at Eurohaptics, Versailles, 24 - 26 June 2014, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44193-0_44

Rager DM; Alvares D; Birznieks I; Redmond SJ; Morley JW; Lovell NH; Vickery RM, 2013, 'Generating tactile afferent stimulation patterns for slip and touch feedback in neural prosthetics', in Proceedings of the Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBS, pp. 5922 - 5925, http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/EMBC.2013.6610900

Fu J; Birznieks I; Goodwin AW; Khamis H; Redmond SJ, 2012, 'Decoding tactile sensation: multiple regression analysis of monkey fingertip afferent mechanoreceptor population responses.', in Conference proceedings : ... Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Conference, pp. 4631 - 4634

Redmond SJ; Goodwin AW; Lovell NH; Birznieks I, 2010, 'A comparison of monkey afferent nerve spike rates and spike latencies for classifying torque, normal force and direction', in APSIPA ASC 2010 - Asia-Pacific Signal and Information Processing Association Annual Summit and Conference, pp. 720 - 724

Birznieks I; Boonstra TW; Macefield VG, 2010, 'Physiological noise in the firing of human muscle spindle afferents', in Small D (ed.), Australian Neurosciences Society Annual Scientific Meeting 2010, ANS, Sydney, pp. 172 - 172, presented at Australian Neurosciences Society Annual Scientific Meeting 2010, Sydney, 31 January - 03 February 2010

Birznieks I; Macefield VG, 2009, 'DYNAMIC SENSITIVITY OF HUMAN MUSCLE SPINDLES TO ARTERIAL PULSATIONS DURING ACUTE MUSCLE AND SKIN PAIN', in JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, SPRINGER TOKYO, pp. 376 - 376, http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000271023102511&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=891bb5ab6ba270e68a

Burton AR; Birznieks I; Macefield VG, 2008, 'Regional skin temperature as an indicator of underlying muscle perfusion', in Proceedings of Aust Neuroscience Society, Australian Neuroscience Society 28th Annual Meeting, Hobart, pp. 52 - 52, presented at Australian Neuroscience Society 28th Annual Meeting, Hobart, 27 - 30 January 2008

Birznieks I; Westling G; Johansson RS; Macefield VG, 2008, 'Directional tuning of slowly-adating mechanoreceptors in the human nail bed', in Proceedings of Aust Neuroscience Society, Australian Neuroscience Society 28th Annual Meeting, Hobart, pp. 30 - 30, presented at Australian Neuroscience Society 28th Annual Meeting, Hobart, 27 - 30 January 2008

Burton AR; Birznieks I; Macefield VG, 2006, 'Comparison of the sympathetic neural responses to pain originating in muscle skin in awake human subjects', in Proceedings of Aust Neuroscience Society, 26th Annual meeting of the Australian Neuroscience Society, Sydney, pp. 48 - 48, presented at 26th Annual meeting of the Australian Neuroscience Society, Sydney, 31 January - 03 February 2006

Conference Abstracts

Vickery R; Rodrigues B; Dahlman S; Schramko L; Morley J; Redmond S; Birznieks I, 2015, 'Non-invasive tactile feedback from artificial sensors using a biomimetic code', in JOURNAL OF NEUROCHEMISTRY, WILEY-BLACKWELL, Cairns, AUSTRALIA, Vol. 134, pp. 377 - 377, presented at 25th Biennial Meeting of the International-Society-for-Neurochemistry Jointly with the 13th Meeting of the Asian-Pacific-Society-for-Neurochemistry in Conjunction with the 35th Meeting of the Australa, Cairns, AUSTRALIA, 23 - 27 August 2015, http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000360206300969&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=891bb5ab6ba270e68a