A University of St. Thomas professor secured a $362,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the first grant the university in St. Paul received from the organization since 2006. 

Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Lucas Koerner secured the three-year grant to build an ion channel open-source amplifier. 

“Ion channels are critical components of the nervous system; understanding the electronics of these proteins plays an essential part in understanding many neurological diseases,” the university reported on its website.

A niche market exists for ion channel amplifiers, which are expensive and few commercial options exist. Commercial amplifiers cost between $5,000 and $20,000 and require heavy involvement by their users, the university reported.

Koerner plans for automatic digital calibration for the ion channel open-source amplifier being funded by the grant. 

“I think of myself broadly as an electrical instrumentation developer, so I’m always looking for scientists or other people who need to measure things,” Koerner said, the website reported. “This is another example of that kind of collaborative work, where we build instruments for people to use.”

Koerner was with Apple as a camera engineer before arriving at St. Thomas. He found that his past experience with the electronics giant has served him well at the university.

“At Apple, we were always pushing data rates to get data out of the cameras at super high speeds,” Koerner said, the website reported. “What I learned there in terms of transmission line and other signal integrity issues has certainly been some of the applied aspects of the course."

The amplifier’s development will help electrical engineering and neuroscience students to get more hands-on opportunities. Students will be able to work on ion channel measurements with experts at the University of Richmond in the third year of the project. 

Mike Warnock, director of Sponsored Programs, said that this award from NIH will be instrumental in helping future applications for funding be successful.