About – Publications – Education – Awards – Skills – STIMUSURE
Lari Koponen sitting on a stone wall.

Lari M. Koponen

Research Engineer,
Astrophysics & Space Research Group,
School of Physics & Astronomy,
University of Birmingham

Birmingham, West Midlands, UK
l.koponen@bham.ac.uk

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About

I develop instruments for fundamental physics problems at the Institute of Gravitational Wave Astronomy at the University of Birmingham.

Previously, I developed technology that tried to enable simultaneous transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) in the Neuronal Oscillations Research Group led by Ole Jensen at the University of Birmingham. Prior to that, I developed quieter TMS technology with Angel V. Peterchev at Duke University, and I developed an elegant method to optimize TMS coils and the method to design multi-locus TMS coils with Risto J. Ilmoniemi at Aalto University.


Publications

Journal articles

  1. Lari M. Koponen, Miles Martinez, Eleanor Wood, David L. K. Murphy, Stefan M. Goetz, Lawrence G. Appelbaum, Angel V. Peterchev. 2024. “Transcranial magnetic stimulation input–output curve slope differences suggest variation in recruitment across muscle representations in primary motor cortex” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 18: 1310320.
  2. Ilkka J. Rissanen, Victor H. Souza, Jaakko O. Nieminen, Lari M. Koponen, Risto J. Ilmoniemi. 2023. “Advanced pipeline for designing multi-locus TMS coils with current density constraints” IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering 70:2025–2034.
  3. Yulia Bezsudnova, Lari M. Koponen, Giovanni Barontini, Ole Jensen, Anna U. Kowalczyk. 2022. “Optimising the sensing volume of OPM sensors for MEG source reconstruction.” NeuroImage 264:119747.
  4. Jaakko O. Nieminen, Alexey S. Pospelov, Lari M. Koponen, Pauliina Yrjölä, Anastasia Shulga, Stanislav Khirug, Claudio Rivera. 2022. “Transcranial magnetic stimulation set-up for small animals.” Frontiers in Neuroscience 16: 935268.
  5. Lari M. Koponen, Angel V. Peterchev. 2022. “Preventing misestimation of transcranial magnetic stimulation motor threshold with MTAT 2.0” Brain Stimulation 15 (5): 1073–1076.
  6. Zhiyong Zeng, Lari M. Koponen, Rena Hamdan, Zhongxi Li, Stefan M. Goetz, Angel V. Peterchev. 2022. “Modular multilevel TMS device with wide output range and ultrabrief pulse capability for sound reduction.” Journal of Neural Engineering 19(2): 026008.
  7. Victor H. Souza, Jaakko O. Nieminen, Sergei Tugin, Lari M. Koponen, Oswaldo Baffa, Risto J. Ilmoniemi. 2022. “TMS with fast and accurate electronic control: measuring the orientation sensitivity of corticomotor pathways.” Brain Stimulation 15 (2): 306–315.
  8. Jaakko O. Nieminen, Heikki Sinisalo, Victor H. Souza, Mikko Malmi, Mikhail Yuryev, Aino E. Tervo, Matti Stenroos, Diego Milardovich, Juuso T. Korhonen, Lari M. Koponen, Risto J. Ilmoniemi. 2022. Multi-locus transcranial magnetic stimulation system for electronically targeted brain stimulation. Brain Stimulation 15(1): 116–124.
  9. Matti Stenroos, Lari M. Koponen. 2021. “Effect of coil model detail on computed electric field in TMS.” International Journal of Bioelectromagnetism 23 (2): 15/1–5.
  10. Lari M. Koponen, Stefan M. Goetz, and Angel V. Peterchev. 2021. “Double-containment coil with enhanced winding mounting for transcranial magnetic stimulation with reduced acoustic noise.” IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering 68 (7): 2233–40.
  11. Lari M. Koponen, Matti Stenroos, Jaakko O. Nieminen, Kimmo Jokivarsi, Olli Gröhn, and Risto J. Ilmoniemi. 2020. “Individual head models for estimating the TMS-induced electric field in rat brain.” Scientific Reports 10: 17397.
  12. Lari M. Koponen, Stefan M. Goetz, Debara L. Tucci, and Angel V. Peterchev. 2020. “Sound Comparison of Seven TMS Coils at Matched Stimulation Strength.” Brain Stimulation 13 (3): 873–80.
  13. Luis J. Gomez, Moritz Dannhauer, Lari M. Koponen, and Angel V. Peterchev. 2020. “Conditions for Numerically Accurate TMS Electric Field Simulation.” Brain Stimulation 13 (1): 157–66.
  14. Jaakko O. Nieminen, Lari M. Koponen, Niko Mäkelä, Victor Hugo Souza, Matti Stenroos, and Risto J. Ilmoniemi. 2019. “Short-Interval Intracortical Inhibition in Human Primary Motor Cortex: A Multi-Locus Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Study.” NeuroImage 203 (December): 116194.
  15. Matti Stenroos, and Lari M. Koponen. 2019. “Real-Time Computation of the TMS-Induced Electric Field in a Realistic Head Model.” NeuroImage 203 (December): 116159.
  16. Karita S.-T. Salo, Selja M. I. Vaalto, Lari M. Koponen, Jaakko O. Nieminen, and Risto J. Ilmoniemi. 2019. “The Effect of Experimental Pain on Short-Interval Intracortical Inhibition with Multi-Locus Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.” Experimental Brain Research 237 (6): 1503–10.
  17. Lari M. Koponen, Jaakko O. Nieminen, and Risto J. Ilmoniemi. 2018. “Multi-Locus Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation—Theory and Implementation.” Brain Stimulation 11 (4): 849–55.
  18. Lari M. Koponen, Jaakko O. Nieminen, Tuomas P. Mutanen, and Risto J. Ilmoniemi. 2018. “Noninvasive Extraction of Microsecond-Scale Dynamics from Human Motor Cortex.” Human Brain Mapping 39 (6): 2405–11.
  19. Lari M. Koponen, Jaakko O. Nieminen, Tuomas P. Mutanen, Matti Stenroos, and Risto J. Ilmoniemi. 2017. “Coil Optimisation for Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Realistic Head Geometry.” Brain Stimulation 10 (4): 795–805.
  20. Jaakko O. Nieminen, Lari M. Koponen, and Risto J. Ilmoniemi. 2015. “Experimental Characterization of the Electric Field Distribution Induced by TMS Devices.” Brain Stimulation 8 (3): 582–89.
  21. Lari M. Koponen, Jaakko O. Nieminen, and Risto J. Ilmoniemi. 2015. “Minimum-Energy Coils for Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: Application to Focal Stimulation.” Brain Stimulation 8 (1): 124–34.
  22. Khattiya Chalapat, Jaakko V. I. Timonen, Maija Huuppola, Lari Koponen, Christoffer Johans, Robin H. A. Ras, Olli Ikkala, Markku A. Oksanen, Eira Seppälä, and G. S. Paraoanu. 2014. “Ferromagnetic Resonance in ϵ-Co Magnetic Composites.” Nanotechnology 25 (48): 485707.

Book chapters

Open data

  • Lari M. Koponen, Stefan M. Goetz, Debara L. Tucci, and Angel V. Peterchev. 2020. “Sound comparison of seven TMS coils at matched stimulation strength.” Dataset on Mendeley Data, V1.

Open source

  • Lari M. Koponen. 2022. “TMS–EMG toolbox.” Repository on GitHub.
  • Matti Stenroos, and Lari M. Koponen. 2020. “Helsinki BEM Framework TMS realtime library.” Repository on GitHub.
  • Lari M. Koponen 2020. “[Source code for] individual head models for estimating the TMS-induced electric field in rat brain.” Repository on GitHub.

Other publications

A scoring system for university admission

My friends and I wrote an 18-page commentary on the flaws in a proposed national scoring system for university admission, and how to address these. Our report had over 1,000 views on social media, and was refered in peer-reviewed literature, e.g., in (Tervasmäki, T., & Tomperi, T. (2018). Koulutuspolitiikan arvovalinnat ja suunta satavuotiaassa Suomessa.). Ultimately, the final scoring system, which is currently in use in all Finnish universities, adopted several features from the system in our report.
  • Joonas Kivi, Elsa Mannila, Lari Koponen, Olli Halminen, and Markus Mattila. 2017. “Paperi, paperi, tasapeli? Yliopiston todistusvalinta.” Kvantti, 2017-11.

A commentary

Commentary on estimating TMS-induced E-field in (Murphy et al., 2016), and a model of the E-field magnitude for their experiment which shows that the peak magnitude was likely between 25–50 V/m instead of 150–200 V/m:

Granted patents

  • Risto Ilmoniemi, Jaakko Nieminen, Lari Koponen. “Control of transcranial magnetic stimulation.” US11167147B2, 2017-04-03.
  • Risto Ilmoniemi, Lari Koponen, Jaakko Nieminen, and Gustaf Järnefelt. “mTMS coil device with overlapping coil windings.” US10780291B2, 2013-06-03.

Recent presentations

  • “One, two or three: What is the optimum number of magnetic field components to measure in MEG?” WOPM 2023, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA, August 29, 2023.
  • “Towards TMS–MEG with OPMs.” Quantum Neuroscience Inaugural Seminar, University of Birmingham, UK, October 13, 2022.
  • “Minimising interference between OPMs: Design of actively shielded internal coils.” Biomag 2022, Birmingham, UK, August 30, 2022.
  • “A low acoustic noise TMS device: Developing neurostimulation technology from idea to the first human experiment.” Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham, UK, virtual event, March 16, 2021.
  • “Coils for transcranial magnetic stimulation.” Computer Aided Coil Design Workshop, Indiania University, USA, virtual event, July 21, 2020.
  • “Double containment coil with optimized winding mounting for quiet transcranial magnetic stimulation.” NYC Neuromodulation 2020, virtual event, April 20, 2020.
  • “qTMS: developing transcranial magnetic stimulation device and coil with reduced acoustic noise.” Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University, Finland, December 23, 2019.
  • “qTMS: developing transcranial magnetic stimulation device and coil with reduced acoustic noise.” 13th CME International Conference on Complex Medical Engineering (CME 2019), Dortmund, Germany, September 23, 2019.


Education (Aalto University, Finland)

Doctor of Science (Technology) in Biomedical Engineering

Thesis: “Implementing advanced transcranial magnetic stimulation technology”

Thesis completed with distinction, GPA 5.00/5

2013–2017

Master of Science (Technology) in Biomedical Engineering

Thesis: “Large thin overlapping coils, a novel approach for multichannel transcranial magnetic stimulation”

Degree completed with distinction, GPA: 4.92/5

2012–2013

Bachelor of Science (Technology) in Engineering Physics

Thesis (in Finnish): “Partikkelikoon vaikutus kobolttinanopartikkelien magneettiseen korkeataajuusvasteeseen polystyreenimatriisissa”

Degree completed with distinction, GPA: 4.92/5

2009–2012


Awards

NYC Neuromodulation 2020: Presentation award

Joint winner, best presentation: NYC Neuromodulation 2020 Emerging Scientists

2020

Aalto University School of Science, Dissertation award

For exceptionally distinguished dissertation

2017

BaCI Conference 2015, Poster award

Joint first prize for best student poster

2015

Finnish Society for Medical Physics and Medical Engineering, Thesis award

Joint first prize for a master's thesis completed in 2013

2014

Aalto University Student Union, Study Scholarship

For successfully combined good academic success and student life

2013

39th International Physics Olympiad, Hanoi, Vietnam

Silver medal

2008


Highlighted skills

Programming: C, C++, CUDA, Java, LabVIEW, Mathematica, MATLAB, Python; on various computing platforms from 8-bit microcontrollers and FPGA to high performance computing clusters and GPU

In (Stenroos & Koponen, 2019), my OpenMP C code was faster in matrix–vector multiplication than the Intel MKL library routines.
In (Stenroos & Koponen, 2019), my C implementation further contained OpenGL based visualizations.

Computer-aided design tools: Autodesk AutoCAD & Inventor & Fusion 360, and Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks; KiCAD and Altium Designer; OpenSCAD

Additive and substractive manufacturing: 3d printers, CNC mills, and laser cutters

I often operate these machines myself to construct the prototype TMS coils.
But, I also know how to outsource fabrication of such parts. For milling, this includes skill to do proper technical drawings for another person to fabricate.