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John R Hetling
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Name
John Hetling
Role
Science writer
Education
Bates College
John R. Hetling is an Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago in the Richard and Loan Hill Department of Bioengineering and Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. He is also the Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Department of Bioengineering and the Director of the Neural Engineering Vision Laboratory at UIC, and Chief Science Officer of RetMap, Inc. After developing ten different courses and teaching 13 different courses in Bioengineering at UIC, Dr. Hetling was recognized with the highest awards for teaching and education within UIC, and delivered keynote addresses and led workshops on bioengineering education and translational bioengineering, as well as many invited technical lectures delivered in five countries (US, Canada, Mexico, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy). At UIC, Hetling developed the first undergraduate course track in Neural Engineering, and in 2008 he and his students authored the most widely accepted definition of the field.
He is a world leader and expert on electrophysiology of vision, with accomplishments in retinal prosthesis and electrical stimulation therapy for retinal disease, leading to invited book chapters in leading Neural Engineering textbooks and earning the Excellence in Neural Engineering Award early in his academic career. His main impact is the development of new diagnostic technologies for degenerative eye diseases, where he pioneered the idea of examining the peripheral retina for early signs of disease. He developed the enabling technology behind multi-electrode electroretinography (meERG), with two issued US patents, both under commercial license. He also developed the enabling technology behind peripheral pattern electroretinography (ppERG), with two international patents pending.
Dr. Hetling also co-developed the first odor-detection system capable of identifying airborne odors in real time, and has patents pending for developing technologies related to clinical electrophysiology and therapeutic hypothermia.
Hetling has been the focus of popular press coverage for his bioengineering innovations, including Scientific American magazine and interviews by former chief medical reporter Dr. Michael Breen of WBBN news and renown National Radio Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Collins.
Biography
After graduating from Bates College in 1989 with a degree in biology, Hetling worked for two years in the neuroelectrophysiology laboratory of Patsy Dickinson at Bowdoin College studying rhythmic motor pattern generation. He then began his PhD at UIC in 1991 in the laboratory of David R. Pepperberg, which he completed in 1997. Following his PhD he did a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at UIC before being named a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioengineering, also at UIC. Hetling began his tenure track faculty position as an Assistant Professor at UIC in 1998.
Artificial Sight. Mark Humayun, Elias Greenbaum, editors. Chapter title: Electrophysiology of Natural and Artificial Vision. Springer, 2007.
Handbook of Neural Engineering, Vol. II, Brian-Computer Interface. Metin Akay, editor. Chapter title: Hybrid olfactory biosensor using the multichannel electroantennogram: Design and application. IEEE Press, 2006.
Epilepsy as a Dynamic Disease. John Milton, Peter Jung, editors. Chapter title: Prospects for building a therapeutic cortical stimulator. Springer-Verlag, 2003.
Publications
Derafshi Z, Kunzer BE, Mugler EM, Rokhmanova N, Park D-W, Tajalli H, Shetty K, Williams J & Hetling JR. (2017). Corneal potential maps measured with multi-electrode electroretinography in rat eyes with experimental lesions. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science58:2863-73.
Parthasarathy R, Chow KM, Derafshi Z, Fautsch MP, Hetling JR, Rodgers DW, Hersh LB & Pepperberg DR. (2015). Reduction of amyloid-beta levels in mouse eye tissues by intravitreally delivered neprilysin. Experimental Eye Research138:134-144.
Krakova Y, Tajalli H, Thongpang S, Derafshi Z, Ban T, Rahmani S, Selner AN, Al-Tarouti A, Williams JC & Hetling JR. (2014). Spatial differences in corneal electroretinogram potentials measured in rat with a contact lens electrode array. Documenta Ophthalmologica, 129(3):151-166, DOI 10.1007/s10633-014-9459-5.
Rahmani S, Bogdanowicz L, Thomas J & Hetling JR. (2013). Chronic delivery of low-level exogenous current preserves retinal function in pigmented P23H rat. Vision Research, 76:105-13.
Fitzgerald MM, Sposato B, Politano P, Hetling J & O'Neill W. (2009). Comparison of three head-controlled mouse emulators in three light conditions. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 25(1):32–41.
Myrick AJ, Park KC, Hetling JR & Baker TC. (2009). Detection and discrimination of mixed odor strands in overlapping plumes using an insect-antenna-based chemosensor system. Journal of Chemical Ecology35:118-130.
Hetling JR. (2008). Comment on 'What is neural engineering?'. Journal of Neural Engineering. 5(3):360-1.
Myrick AJ, Park KC, Hetling JR & Baker TC. (2008). Real-time odor discrimination using a bioelectronic sensor array based on the insect electroantennogram. Bioinspiration and Biomimetics3(4):046006 (19 pp., electronic journal).
Hetling JR, Baig-Silva MS, Hathcock CR, Axtell P (2006). Prostheses for vision: Identification of the cellular targets of subretinal electrical stimulation. Lékař a Technika (invited paper, Czech Republic) 36(2):132-136.
Hetling JR, Baig-Silva MS, Comer CM, Pardue MT, Samaan DY, Qtaishat NM, Pepperberg DR & Park TJ (2005). Features of visual function in the naked mole-rat Heterocephalus glaber. Journal of Comparative Physiology A-Sensory Neural & Behavioral Physiology. 191(4):317-30.
Baig-Silva MS, Hathcock CD & Hetling JR. (2005). A preparation for studying electrical stimulation of the retina in vivo in rat. Journal of Neural Engineering2(1):S29-38.
Kang-Derwent JJ, Derlacki DJ, Hetling JR, Fishman GA, Birch DG, Grover S, Stone EM & Pepperberg DR. (2004). Dark adaptation of rod photoreceptors in normal subjects, and in patients with stargardt disease and an ABCA4 mutation. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science45(7):2447-56.
Hetling JR & Baig-Silva MS. (2004). Neural prostheses for vision: Designing a functional interface with retinal neurons. (invited review) Neurological Research26(1):21-34.
Chow AY, Pardue MT, Perlman JI, Ball SL, Chow VY, Hetling JR, Peyman GA, Liang C, Stubbs EB Jr. & Peachey NS. (2002). Subretinal implantation of semiconductor-based photodiodes. Durability of novel implant designs. Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development39(3):313-322.
Pardue MT, Ball SL, Hetling JR, Chow VY, Chow AY & Peachey NS. (2001). Visual evoked potentials to infrared stimulation in normal cats and rats. Documenta Ophthalmologica103:155-162.
Silva GA, Hetling JR & Pepperberg, D.R. (2001). Dynamic and steady-state light adaptation of mouse rod photoreceptors in vivo. Journal of Physiology534(1):203-216.
Dickinson PS, Hauptman J, Hetling JR. (2001). RPCH modulation of a multi-oscillator network: Effects on the pyloric network of the spiney lobster. Journal of Neurophysiology85:1424-1435.
Hetling JR & Pepperberg DR. (1999). Sensitivity and kinetics of mouse rod flash responses in vivo from paired-flash electroretinograms. Journal of Physiology, 516(2):593-602.
Dickinson PS, Fairfield WP, Hetling JR & Hauptman J. (1997). Neurotransmitter interactions in the stomatogastric system of the spiny lobster: one peptide alters the response of a central pattern generator to a second peptide. Journal of Neurophysiology, 77:599-610.
Dickinson PS, Mescas M, Hetling JR & Terio K. (1993). The neuropeptide red pigment concentrating hormone affects rhythmic pattern generation at multiple sites. Journal of Neurophysiology, 69:1475-1483.
