Neuroprosthetics Research Group (NRG)
News
September 7, 2009: Congratulations to Babak Mahmoudi (NRG PhD Candidate) for being selected as a finalist in the student paper competition at the IEEE International Conference of the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society.
August 10, 2009: Dr. Sanchez gave a plenary talk for the IEEE 125th Anniversary celebration of History and Technical Societies. Selected slides provide a perspective into neuroprosthetics in the 21st Century. (view presentation)
May 8, 2009: We have a new journal article out on Co-Adaptive Brain-Machine Interfaces. The article develops a new framework for symbiotic control and shows evidence for how to deal with neural reorganization in vivo! (view article)
Mission
The Neuroprosthetic Research Group (NRG) was founded in 2005 by Dr. Justin C. Sanchez. The goal of the NRG is to develop state-of-the-art novel BIONIC medical treatments. This direction of research is motivated by the potential of neuroprosthetics or direct neural interfaces for delivering therapy and restoring functionality to disabled individuals. The lab's mission is focused on "bench to bedside" science to innovate medical neuroprosthesis devices and translate them into the clinic. Two clinical outcomes of the lab’s mission are to restore communication control ability to the motor impaired and to mitigate epileptic seizures. In this mission, we study motor and limbic neurophysiology and develop interface technology to respond to normal and abnormal neural function.
Expertise
The expertise to develop "beyond state-of-the-art" neural interface technology requires a highly multidisciplinary knowledge base. In the NRG, we take a "Renaissance man" approach to science and have developed an extensive track record over the years in the following areas.
Neurophysiology (Motor and Limbic Neural Coding)
The NRG is a neurophysiology lab. We conduct chronic multielectrode recordings in behaving subjets. We perform stereotaxic neurosurgery and chronically implant neural interfaces to sample large populations of neurons. These signals are then used in closed-loop neural interface studies.
In this area, we are uncovering the fundamental principles of neural coding in systems of neurons. This knowledge is used to develop new therapies.
System Design (Symbiotic Neural Interfaces)
The NRG lab has lead innovations in neuroprosthetic system design. We have developed emergent systems where the user and neuroprosthetic cooperatively seek to maximize goals while interacting with a complex, dynamical environment. Both the user and the neuroprosthetic are in a symbiotic relationship where they solve tasks in an assistive manner.
Neurotechnology
The NRG is working to develop implantable and wearable neural interfaces that will ultimately make neuroprosthetics more feasible in clinical implementation.
Ultimately, it will take the culmination of new functional neurophysiologic knowledge, conputational neuroscience, and neurotechnology to demonstrate the clinical utility for human subjects.
For our latest scientific advancements see the publications sections. We would like to also announce the release of our new book from Morgan and Claypool Publishersers titled Brain-Machine Interface Engineering.
Contact
The Neuroprosthetics Research Group was founded by Justin C. Sanchez, Ph.D. in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Florida. The NRG laboratory is located within the McKnight Brain Institute and Shands Hospital Human Development Building (directions to lab). Please send all correspondence to, P.O. Box 100296, JHMHC, Gainesville, Florida, 32610, the phone number is (352) 846-2180.
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