Intracortical brain-computer interfaces: from fundamental science and engineering to restoring speech and reach & grasp
Event details
| Date | 02.03.2021 |
| Hour | 17:00 › 18:00 |
| Speaker | Dr Sergey Stavisky |
| Location | Online |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Please note that the schedule of the event still has to be confirmed
Abstract: Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are poised to profoundly transform human health by treating devastating – and currently incurable – nervous system injuries and diseases with precise, circuit-level measurements and interventions. BCIs can potentially restore the ability to speak, move, remember and more. However, repairing or replacing patients’ damaged abilities requires a platform for understanding human-specific neural functions and designing, testing, and refining therapies in people. My strategy for accomplishing this is to develop advanced intracortical BCIs to restore speech and reach & grasp movements for people with paralysis. These clinical trials will help individuals with severe speech and motor impairment in the near-term, and in doing so, validate the safety of new human-use devices capable of reading from and writing to thousands of neurons.
This research also provides a unique opportunity to study the workings of the human brain at the unprecedented resolution of hundreds of individual neurons, across multiple brain areas, and over many months. My hope is that understanding the function (and dysfunction) of these neural computations will lead to better BCI therapies to restore patients’ lost abilities.
Speaker Bio: Dr. Sergey Stavisky received his Sc.B. from Brown University in 2008, after which he worked as a research engineer in the BrainGate group for two years. Sergey completed his PhD in neurosciences at Stanford University in 2016, where he studied motor cortical control of reaching and developed brain-computer interfaces in a preclinical monkey model in the group of Electrical Engineering Prof. Krishna Shenoy.
Sergey is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Stanford Neural Prosthetics Translational Laboratory, mentored by Profs. Jaimie Henderson (Neurosurgery) and Krishna Shenoy. He's been focused on both the engineering and scientific challenges necessary to develop BCIs to restore the ability of clinical trial participants with movement impairments to speak and make reach and grasp movements. Sergey has published 24 peer-reviewed journal papers, has been awarded 2 patents, and was recognized with postdoctoral fellowship awards from the ALS Association, the A. P. Giannini Foundation, the Stanford Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, and most recently a faculty transition award from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.
Abstract: Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are poised to profoundly transform human health by treating devastating – and currently incurable – nervous system injuries and diseases with precise, circuit-level measurements and interventions. BCIs can potentially restore the ability to speak, move, remember and more. However, repairing or replacing patients’ damaged abilities requires a platform for understanding human-specific neural functions and designing, testing, and refining therapies in people. My strategy for accomplishing this is to develop advanced intracortical BCIs to restore speech and reach & grasp movements for people with paralysis. These clinical trials will help individuals with severe speech and motor impairment in the near-term, and in doing so, validate the safety of new human-use devices capable of reading from and writing to thousands of neurons.
This research also provides a unique opportunity to study the workings of the human brain at the unprecedented resolution of hundreds of individual neurons, across multiple brain areas, and over many months. My hope is that understanding the function (and dysfunction) of these neural computations will lead to better BCI therapies to restore patients’ lost abilities.
Speaker Bio: Dr. Sergey Stavisky received his Sc.B. from Brown University in 2008, after which he worked as a research engineer in the BrainGate group for two years. Sergey completed his PhD in neurosciences at Stanford University in 2016, where he studied motor cortical control of reaching and developed brain-computer interfaces in a preclinical monkey model in the group of Electrical Engineering Prof. Krishna Shenoy.
Sergey is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Stanford Neural Prosthetics Translational Laboratory, mentored by Profs. Jaimie Henderson (Neurosurgery) and Krishna Shenoy. He's been focused on both the engineering and scientific challenges necessary to develop BCIs to restore the ability of clinical trial participants with movement impairments to speak and make reach and grasp movements. Sergey has published 24 peer-reviewed journal papers, has been awarded 2 patents, and was recognized with postdoctoral fellowship awards from the ALS Association, the A. P. Giannini Foundation, the Stanford Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, and most recently a faculty transition award from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.
Practical information
- General public
- Free