Dr. Alejandro Lopez Valdes
Assistant Professor, Electronic & Elect. Engineering
Biography
Currently, an Assistant Professor in Neural Engineering and Brain Health affiliated to the School of Engineering and The Global Brain Health Institute. I strive to contribute to the creation of applicable and scalable methods and solutions to support brain health throughout the lifespan. My research focuses on applied neural engineering supporting, aging, sensory dysfunction and cognition.
Born in Mexico in 1987, I have a background in biomedical engineering, and specialized in neural engineering. I have industry experience in the fields of ophthalmology surgery medical device service and management, medical device design, and auditory assistive devices research and development.
I obtained a Bachelor's Degree in Biomedical Engineering from ITESM in Monterrey, Mexico. Completed my Master's of Science in Bioengineering from the University of Groningen and Trinity College Dublin through the CEMACUBE programme funded by the European Union. I hold a PhD in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, specialized in neural engineering, from Trinity College Dublin.
Before joining Trinity College Dublin as faculty, I carried out research in the area of cognitive hearing sciences and brain hearing technologies at Eriksholm Research Centre in Denmark.
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Correia Guilherme, Crosse Michael, Lopez Valdes Alejandro, Brain Wearables: Validation Toolkit for Ear-Level EEG Sensors, 2024
Sara Solis-López, Aníbal Gutiérrez-Torres, Alejandro López-Valdés, José Alberto Ávila-Funes, Carmen García-Peña, Brian Lawlor, Roman Romero-Ortuno, Age-friendly initiatives: Mexico, The Journal of nutrition, health and aging, 2023
Farrell Sean, Valdes Alejandro Lopez, INSTITUTO TECNOLOGICO Y DE ESTUDIOS SUPERIORES DE MONTERREY, 'The Mind' promotes brain synchronization: an ecological evaluation of brain synchronization in co-operative tasks, Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual International Conference, 2023, 2023, p1 - 4
Carta S, Mangiacotti AMA, Valdes AL, Reilly RB, Franco F, Di Liberto GM., The impact of temporal synchronisation imprecision on TRF analyses., Journal of neuroscience methods, 385, 2023, p109765
Manjarrez Elias, Curia Giulia, Stecina Katinka, Lopez Valdes Alejandro, INSTITUTO TECNOLOGICO Y DE ESTUDIOS SUPERIORES DE MONTERREY, Editorial: Bridging the gap between integrative neuroscience and translational neuroscience, Frontiers in integrative neuroscience, 17, 2023, p1296701-
Bönitz Hanna, Lunner Thomas, Finke Mareike, Fiedler Lorenz, Lyxell Björn, Riis SÞren Kamaric, Ng Elaine, Valdes Alejandro Lopez, BÌchner Andreas, Wendt Dorothea, How Do We Allocate Our Resources When Listening and Memorizing Speech in Noise? A Pupillometry Study , Ear and hearing , 42 , (4 ), 2021, p846 - 859
Origin and Dynamics of Biomedical Signals in, editor(s)Ahad, Md Atiqur Rahman; Ahmed, Mosabber Uddin , Signal Processing Techniques for Computational Health Informatics, Springer International Publishing, 2021, [Nahiyan, K. M. Talha; Arefin, A. S. M. Shamsul; Rabbani, Mamun; Lopez Valdes, Alejandro]
Simões-Franklin, C., Flood, I., Sechler, S., Lopez-Valdes, A., Waechter, S.M., Thapa, J., Glynn, F., Walshe, P., Reilly, R.B., Viani, L., Sequential bilateral implantation in older children: Inter-implant map differences and their effects on functional outcomes, Clinical Otolaryngology, 2020
Saskia M. Waechter, Alejandro Lopez Valdes, Cristina Simoes-Franklin, Laura Viani, Richard B. Reilly, Depth matters - Towards finding an objective neurophysiological measure of behavioral amplitude modulation detection based on neural threshold determination, Hearing Research, 2018, p13-22
Sechler, S.D., Lopez Valdes, A., Waechter, S.M., Simoes-Franklin, C., Viani, L., Reilly, R.B., Virtual reality sound localization testing in cochlear implant users, Proceedings of Neural Engineering (NER), 2017 8th International IEEE/EMBS Conference on, Neural Engineering (NER), 2017 8th International IEEE/EMBS Conference on, 2017, pp379-382
Alejandro Lopez Valdes ; Myles Mc Laughlin ; Laura Viani ; Peter Walshe ; Jaclyn Smith ; Fan-Gang Zeng ; Richard B. Reilly, Electrophysiological correlates of spectral discrimination for cochlear implant users, Neural Engineering (NER), 2015 7th International IEEE/EMBS Conference on, Neural Engineering (NER), 2015 7th International IEEE/EMBS Conference on, 22-24 April 2015 , 2015, pp671 - 674
Leijsen A.M, Lopez Valdes A, McLaughlin M, Smith J, Viani L, Walshe P, Reilly R.B, An approach to develop an objective measure of temporal processing in cochlear implant users based on Schroeder-phase harmonic complexes, International IEEE/EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering, NER, 2015, 2015-July, 2015, pp699 - 702
Lopez Valdes A, Mc Laughlin M, Viani L, Walshe P, Smith J, Zeng FG, Reilly RB, Objective assessment of spectral ripple discrimination in cochlear implant listeners using cortical evoked responses to an oddball paradigm., PloS one, 9, (3), 2014, pe90044
Lopez-Valdes, A., McLaughlin, M., Viani, L., Walshe, P., Smith, J., Zeng, F.-G., Reilly, R.B., Auditory mismatch negativity in cochlear implant users: A window to spectral discrimination, Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, Osaka; Japan, 3-7 July, IEEE, 2013, pp3555-3558
Mc Laughlin M, Lopez Valdes A, Reilly RB, Zeng FG, Cochlear implant artifact attenuation in late auditory evoked potentials: A single channel approach., Hearing research, 302, 2013, p84-95
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
Connelly JP, Boland Erin, Buckley Brenda, Curley Niall, Refaie Amr El, Galvin Miriam, Gibb Matthew, Graham Liz, Lennon Brendan, Valdes Alejandro Lopez, Mullally Anne-Michelle, Muller Nicole, Nolan-Palmer Janice, O'Nolan Gerald, O'Reilly Ciara, Rezk Valeria Raaft, Rochford-Brennan Helen, Tobin Katy, Tormey Helen, Trepel Dominic, Leroi Iracema, INSTITUTO TECNOLOGICO Y DE ESTUDIOS SUPERIORES DE MONTERREY, SENSE-Cog Residential Care: Hearing and vision support for residents with dementia in long-term care in Ireland: Protocol for a pilot cluster randomised controlled trial, Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual International Conference, 2023, 2023, 1 - 4
Carta Sara, AliÄ koviÄ Emina, Zaar Johannes, López Valdes Alejandro, Di Liberto Giovanni, INSTITUTO TECNOLOGICO Y DE ESTUDIOS SUPERIORES DE MONTERREY, Cortical over-representation of phonetic onsets of ignored speech in hearing impaired individuals, Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual International Conference, 2023, 2023, 1 - 4
Thomas Lunner, Alejandro Lopez Valdes, Henrik Bendsen, Claus Christensen, Peter Schmidt, Ole Andersen, Mikkel Nielsen, Tanveer Bhuiyan, 'A portable system for gathering and processing data from EEG, EOG, and/or imaging sensors', United States of America, 2021, 30 January 2024, Oticon S/A
Pontoppidan Niels Henrik, Memic Anida, Johansen Benjamin, Wang Yang, Thorén Elisabet Sundewall Petersen, Michael Kai Petersen, Eline Borch, Griful Sergi Rotger, Tietz Lukas, Lopez Valdes Alejandro, Hietkamp Renskje K, Westergård Bo, Laplante-Lévesque Ariane, Cleveland Nielsen Annette, Bramsløw Lars, Meedom Niels Henrik, Bhuiyan Tanveer, 'HEARING AID SYSTEM', European Patent Office, EP3432606, 2018, 30 January 2024, Oticon A/S
Thomas Lunner, Martin Skoglund, Alejandro Lopez Valdes, Bhuiyan Tanveer, 'SYSTEM FOR CAPTURING ELECTROOCULOGRAPHY SIGNALS', European Patent Office, EP3417775B1, 2018, 30 January 2024, Oticon A/S
Myles McLaughlin, Alejandro Lopez Valdes, Richard Reilly, Fan-Gang Zeng, 'Single channel cochlear implant artifact attenuation in late auditory evoked potentials', United States Patent and Trademark Office, US20160008598, 2014, 30 January 2024, THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA THE PROVOST, FELLOWS AND SCHOLARS OF THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY AND UNDIVIDED TRINITY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH NEAR DUBLIN
Jorge Armando Cortes Ramirez, Edgar Francisco Rios Soltero, Alejandro Lopez Valdes, 'CONTROLLABLE BRAKING AND DAMPENING DEVICE FOR ROTATING HINGES', Instituto Mexicano de la Propiedad Industrial, MX/a/2008/015025, 2008, 30 January 2024, INSTITUTO TECNOLOGICO Y DE ESTUDIOS SUPERIORES DE MONTERREY
Research Expertise
Description
My research interests focus on applied neural engineering supporting, aging, sensory dysfunction and cognition. Aiming to help better understand changes in brain health as individuals move through their life. By including contextual information to capture the nuances of individual lifestyles and allow for individualized approaches to brain health. This would facilitate early detection of cognition difficulties before they become acute and support a healthy brain ageing.Recognition
Awards and Honours
TCD Alumni Trust Fund: Neural Engineering Outreach and Teaching funding (11,325.00 EUR)
William Demand Foundation and SFI Co-Funded, Co-Investigator Grant. "Investigating attention switching in realistic listening scenarios". (170,686.08 EUR)
William Demant Foundation Co-Investigator Grant. "Implementation of hearing aid signal processing strategies on hierarchical cortical processing of speech". (13,388.35 EUR)
Demant Annual Innovation Challenge Winner
Demant Annual Innovation Challenge Winner
Collin Cherry Award
Engineers Ireland Biomedical Research Medal Finalist
3rd Prize 'Thesis-in-3' presentation at the Trinity Centre for Bioengineering Winter Symposium
Travel Grant Award for the 36th Association for Research in Otorhinolaryngology (ARO) Midwinter Meeting
CEMACUBE Erasmus Mundus Scholarship (Full MSc Scholarship)
HEA Graduate Research in Education Programme Scholarship (Full PhD Scholarship)
Memberships
IEEE Senior Member
IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society
IEEE Young Professionals