Doctor Ingvars Birznieks

• Qualifications
• Biography
• Research 
• Publications
• Teaching Interests
• Grants/Current Projects
• Professional Activities 

Qualifications

MBiol, PhD (Med)

Biography

Dr Ingvars Birznieks is a sensory neurophysiologist interested in sensory information encoding mechanisms. He was awarded his PhD in medical sciences at the Department of Physiology, University of Umeå in Sweden for his research on tactile sensory control of dexterous manipulations in humans. In 2003 Dr Birznieks spent six months at the University of Melbourne focusing on tactile receptor function. After returning to Europe Dr Birznieks continued his academic work at the Department of Human and Animal Physiology, University of Latvia where he had been teaching since 1993. In recognition of his long standing contribution to teaching and lecturing duties he was awarded the academic title of Associate Professor. In 2005 he received a prestigious Fellowship from the Swedish Medical Research Council to conduct postdoctoral research at the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute in Sydney where he was later offered a senior research officer’s position on the multidisciplinary Thinking Systems project bringing together neuroscientists, biomedical engineers and roboticists.

Dr Birznieks joined the University of Western Sydney (UWS) in 2011 as a Senior Lecturer in Physiology at the School of Biomedical and Health Sciences.

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Research

Dr Ingvars Birznieks' research focuses on sensory physiology, sensory encoding mechanisms, tactile sense, tactile sensorimotor control of human hand, dexterous manipulation of objects, biological cybernetics, haptic devices, functional and clinical consequences of somatosensory disorders in stroke patients.

Besides tactile and sensorimotor research he has broad collaborative research activities comprising engineering, computational neuroscience, psychology, neurology (chronic pain, stroke) and autonomic neurophysiology.

Dr Birznieks is fascinated by the function of sensory organs and astonished by the versatility of clever solutions that surround us in nature. His research investigates how sensory organs work, and in particular how sensory information is encoded and how it is processed and interpreted. A specific methodological signature of his research is the use of microneurography - a highly skilled neurophysiological technique which enables recording nerve impulses (messages) generated by a single sensory ending, such as a touch receptor in the skin, in awake humans. His aim is to, not only increase our understanding of sensation, but to help people who have lost part of their sensory function due to illness or trauma. Dr Birznieks is borrowing ideas from biological systems to develop future technologies.

Dr Birznieks' research primarily comprises a range of studies related to the function of tactile receptors in the fingertip skin and sensorimotor control of human hand. However, his ultimate goal is to use this fundamental knowledge to 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.

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Selected Publications

Peer-reviewed journal articles

Birznieks, I., Wheat, H.W., Redmond, S.J., Salo, L., Lovell, N.H., and Goodwin, A.W. (2010). Encoding of tangential torque in responses of tactile afferent fibres innervating the monkey's fingerpad J Physiol. 588 (7): 1057-1072.

Birznieks, I., Macefield, V.G., Westling, G., and Johansson, R.S. (2009). Slowly adapting mechanoreceptors in the borders of the human fingernail encode fingertip forces. Journal of Neuroscience. 29 (29): 9370-9379.

Burton, A.R., Birznieks, I., Spaak, J., Henderson, L.A.,and Macefield, V.G. (2009). Effects of deep and superficial experimentally induced acute pain on skin sympathetic nerve activity in human subjects. Exp Brain Res. 195 (2): 317-324. 

Burton, A.R., Birznieks, I., Bolton, P.S., Henderson, L.A., and Macefield, V.G. (2009). Differential effects of deep and superficial experimentally-induced acute pain on muscle sympathetic activity Journal of Physiology. 587 (1): 183-193. 

Birznieks, I., Burton, A.R., and Macefield, V.G. (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. 586 (11): 2713-2723. 

Johansson, R.S., and Birznieks, I. (2004). First spikes in ensembles of human tactile afferents code complex spatial fingertip events. Nature Neuroscience. 7 (2): 170-177. 

Book chapters

Redmond, S.J., Birznieks, I., Lovell, N.H., and Goodwin, A.W. (2010). Classifying Torque, Normal Force and Direction Using Monkey Afferent Nerve Spike Rates. In: Kappers A., van Erp J., Bergmann Tiest W.M., van der Helm F. (Eds) Haptics: Generating and Perceiving Tangible Sensation, Springer Berlin / Heidelberg, pp. 43-50.

Birznieks, I. (2010). Neuroprosthesis - theory and praxis. In: Gedrovics J., Raipulis J. (Eds), Special honorary collection of articles: For science and youth, RTTEMA, Riga, Latvia, 60-68 (In Latvian).

Macefield, V.G., and Birznieks, I. (2008). Cutaneous mechanoreceptors, functional behavior. In: Binder M.D., Hirokawa N., Windhorst U. (Eds), Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, Springer, 914-922.

Conference and other papers

Redmond, S.J., Lovell, N.H., Goodwin, A.W., and Birznieks, I. (2010). A Comparison of Monkey Afferent Nerve Spike Rates and Spike Latencies for Classifying Torque, Normal Force and Direction. In: Proceedings of the Second Asia Pacific Signal and Information Processing Association (APSIPA) Annual Summit and Conference, Biopolis, Singapore, 2010, pp. 720-724.

Birznieks, I., Burton, A.R., and Macefield, V.G. (2008). Does muscle pain increase muscles stiffness? Physiology News Magazine, 73: 21-22.

Birznieks, I., and Macefield, V.G. (2007). Investigations of sensory signals in human peripheral nerves – underpinning prospects of feedback loop implementation in Brain Computer Interface (BCI) and Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) devices. In: Bijak M., Mandl T., Martinek J., Mayer W., Pichler M. (Eds), Proceedings of 9th Vienna International Workshop on Functional Electrical Stimulation, Krems, Austria, 243-246.

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Grants/Current Projects

Birznieks, I., Redmond, S.J., and Macefield, V.G. The encoding of friction by tactile mechanoreceptors - the key to fingertip force control during dexterous object manipulation by humans. 2011 Australian Research Council (ARC) discovery project grant. Funding for 2012-2014.

Birznieks, I., Vickery, R.M., Macefield, V.G., and Krishnan A.V. Information encoding by temporal structure of afferent spike trains evoked by complex vibrotactile stimuli. 2011 National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Project Grant Funding Round. Funding for 2012-2014.

Macefield, V.G., and Birznieks, I. The effects of tonic muscle pain on the sympathetic and somatic motor systems in human subjects. 2011 NHMRC Project Grant Funding Round. Funding for 2012-2014.

Birznieks, I. Information encoding by temporal structure of afferent spike trains evoked by complex vibrotactile stimuli. UWS School of Biomedical and Health Sciences (SBHS) New Research Project Development Grant. Funding for 2011.

Seizova-Cajic, T., and Birznieks, I. Neuroscience Research Australia. Adaptation and after effects in perception of tactile motion. 2010 ARC project grant. Funding for 2011-2013.

Birznieks, I., and Vickery, R.M. Neuronal signalling of the frequency of vibrotactile stimuli – is the temporal pattern of afferent impulses the key? Medical Faculty Research Grant. Funding for 2011.

Morley, J., Mahns, D., and Birznieks, I. Peripheral encoding of forces associated with manipulation by tactile afferents in the human finger. UWS Internal Research Scheme Grants. Funding for 2008.

Birznieks, I. Sensory mechanisms in object manipulation: Tactile encoding of tangential torque loads. Postdoctoral Research grant for research project abroad from The Swedish Medical Research Council. Funding for 2005-2006.

Birznieks, I. Does the order of recruitment of human tactile afferents encode fingertip forces and object's shape? Project support from J C Kempe Memorial Fund, Sweden. Funding for 2003.

Teaching Interest

Human physiology, comparative sensory physiology, research methods.

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Professional Activities

• Discovery project grant assessor for Australian Research Council (ARC) - 2011-to present
• Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) application assessor for Australian Research Council - 2011-
• Project grant assessor for the NHMRC - 2011-to present
• Member of Scientific Council overseeing division of Human biology and Medicine, Latvian edition of international popular science journal "Science Illustrated", AS Diena, Riga and Bonnier Publications A/S, Copenhagen - 2005-to present
• Member of the "Scientists in Schools" national program that creates and supports long-term partnerships between teachers and scientists - 2010-to present
• Reviewer for Clinical Autonomic Research - 2011-to present
• Reviewer for World Haptics 2011 conference papers - 2011-to present
• Reviewer for Journal of Neuroscience - 2009-to present
• Reviewer for Autonomic Neuroscience: Basic and Clinical - 2009-to present
• Reviewer for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Transactions on Haptics - 2009-to present
• Reviewer for Journal of Mathematical Biology - 2008-to present
• Reviewer for the Biomedical Circuits and Systems (BiOCAS) conference proceedings (2006)
• Member of the Conference Editorial board. International Conference: Theory and Praxis in Teacher Education II, April 2004, RPIVA, Riga, Latvia
• Member of the Conference Scientific Committee. III International conference: Natural Sciences and Teacher Training, March 2001, RPIVA, Riga, Latvia
  

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