Gerald E. Loeb

Gerald E. Loeb, M.D.

Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Director of the Medical Device Development Facility

Office: DRB B11
Phone: (213) 821-5311
Fax: (213) 821-3897
Email: gloeb@usc.edu

 
Dr. Loeb's CV
Selected Publications

Short Video on Sensorimotor Control

Background 

Dr. Loeb was born in New Brunswick , NJ , received his B.A. ('69) and M.D. ('72) from Johns Hopkins University , and trained in surgery at the University of Arizona . He spent 15 years in the Laboratory of Neural Control at the National Institutes of Health and 12 years at Queen's University where he was Professor of Physiology and Director of the Bio-Medical Engineering Unit. He served as Chief Scientist (consulting) for Advanced Bionics Corp. of Sylmar , California , from 1994-1999. Dr. Loeb moved to USC in September, 1999. He has published over 200 journal articles and chapters, a book on electromyography, and holds 51 patents.

Research 

Dr. Loeb works on neural prosthetics - interfaces between electronic devices and the nervous system that are used to replace sensory and motor functions and correct dysfunctions in people with neurological problems. He was one of the developers of the cochlear implant now used to restore functional hearing to the deaf and continues to pursue improvements in this mature technology. His research group developed BIONs - BIOnic Neurons that are small enough to be injected into paralyzed muscles where they receive power and send and receive data by radio links with an external controller. In addition to developing and testing technology, Dr. Loeb has been active in basic neurophysiological studies of the sensorimotor nervous system in order to understand normal biological control. Computer models based on experimental data from muscles, motoneurons and proprioceptors are being developed to test new theories of control that may permit the reanimation of paralyzed limbs via functional electrical stimulation ( FES ). Similar models and interfaces are also being applied to the design and control of powered prosthetic arms and hands.  Details of these projects and complete recent reports can be found at http://mddf.usc.edu. Dr. Loeb is also an inventor of the BioTac ®, a biomimetic tactile sensing system being commercialized by Syntouch LLC, for which he is Chief Executive Office (www.syntouchllc.com).