A brain–computer interface (BCI), sometimes called a brain–machine interface (BMI), is a direct communication link between the brain's electrical activity and an external device, most commonly a computer or robotic limb. BCIs are often directed at researching, mapping, assisting, augmenting, or repairing human cognitive or sensory-motor functions. They are often conceptualized as a human–machine interface that skips the intermediary of moving body parts (hands...), although they also raise the possibility of erasing the distinction between brain and machine. BCI implementations range from non-invasive and partially invasive to invasive, based on how physically close electrodes are to brain tissue.
Neurotechnology encompasses any method or electronic device which interfaces with the nervous system to monitor or modulate neural activity.
Neuroprosthetics is a discipline related to neuroscience and biomedical engineering concerned with developing neural prostheses. They are sometimes contrasted with a brain–computer interface, which connects the brain to a computer rather than a device meant to replace missing biological functionality.
The Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin is Europe's largest university hospital, affiliated with Humboldt University and the Free University of Berlin.
Edward S. Boyden is an American neuroscientist at MIT. He is the Y. Eva Tan Professor in Neurotechnology, and a full member of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research. He is recognized for his work on optogenetics and expansion microscopy. Boyden joined the MIT faculty in 2007, and continues to develop new optogenetic tools as well as other technologies for the manipulation and analysis of brain structure and activity. He received the 2015 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.
Torsten Zuberbier is a German dermatologist and allergologist.
The European Centre for Allergy Research Foundation (ECARF) is a non-profit foundation in the area of allergology.
The Center for Neurotechnology (CNT) is an Engineering Research Center funded by the National Science Foundation to create devices to restore the body's capabilities for sensation and movement. The center is based at the University of Washington. The center's core partner organizations are Massachusetts Institute of Technology and San Diego State University.
Neuromodulation is "the alteration of nerve activity through targeted delivery of a stimulus, such as electrical stimulation or chemical agents, to specific neurological sites in the body". It is carried out to normalize – or modulate – nervous tissue function. Neuromodulation is an evolving therapy that can involve a range of electromagnetic stimuli such as a magnetic field (rTMS), an electric current, or a drug instilled directly in the subdural space. Emerging applications involve targeted introduction of genes or gene regulators and light (optogenetics), and by 2014, these had been at minimum demonstrated in mammalian models, or first-in-human data had been acquired. The most clinical experience has been with electrical stimulation.
The Bernstein Network is a research network in the field of computational neuroscience; this field brings together experimental approaches in neurobiology with theoretical models and computer simulations. It unites different scientific disciplines, such as physics, biology, mathematics, medical science, psychology, computer science, engineering and philosophy in the endeavor to understand how the brain functions. The close combination of neurobiological experiments with theoretical models and computer simulations allows scientists of the Bernstein Network to pursue innovative approaches with regard to one of the most complex structures nature has created in the course of evolution: the natural brain.
Detlev Ganten is a specialist in pharmacology and molecular medicine and is one of the leading scientists in the field of hypertension. He founded the World Health Summit in 2009. He was Chairman of the Foundation Board of the Charité Foundation (2005–2015), editor of the Journal of Molecular Medicine, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces and Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology as well as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Ethnological Museum Dahlem of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.
Clinatec is a biomedical research center based at the Polygone Scientifique in Grenoble. Doctors, biologists and micro- and nanotechnology experts work side by side at the 6,000 m2 facility. Around a hundred researchers and employees work at the center. When it opened at the end of 2011, it was hailed as the first center of its kind in the world. With six hospital rooms, cutting-edge medical imaging equipment and an operating suite, Clinatec was developed by the Research Division of the CEA, Grenoble-Alpes University Hospital (CHU), Inserm and the Université Grenoble Alpes. The primary focus is on cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and disability.
Minoo Lenarz, born Minoo Moshrefi, was an Iranian-German Professor and medical scientist.
The Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN) is the common platform for systems neuroscience at the University of Tübingen in Germany. It was installed as a cluster of excellence within the framework of the Excellence Initiative in 2007/2008. About 90 scientists with their research groups – 21 of which are currently supported with excellence initiative funds – form the CIN's membership. The focus of their work is on basic research in systems neurobiology. Based on an interdisciplinary and integrative approach, it encompasses projects rooted in biology, medicine, physics, computer science and engineering as well as cognition and neurophilosophy.
Christian T. Wentz is an American electrical engineer and entrepreneur. He is recognized for his work in engineering authenticity in electronic devices and the use of these primitives in distributed systems, developing neural interface technologies and innovation in optoelectronics, low power circuit design, wireless power and high bandwidth communication technologies.
Georg Winterer is a German entrepreneur, neuroscientist and specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy. He is an Associate Professor at the Charité – University Medicine Berlin, director of the Neuroimaging Research Group in the Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC) at the Charité – University Medicine Berlin. He is the founder and managing director of the Berlin PI Solutions Group GmbH.
Diane Louise Damiano is an American biomedical scientist and physical therapist specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation approaches in children with cerebral palsy. She is chief of the functional and applied biomechanics section at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center. Damiano has served as president of the Clinical Gait and Movement Analysis Society and the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine.
Friedhelm Christoph Hummel is a German neuroscientist and neurologist. A full professor at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, he is the Defitech Chair of Clinical Neuroengineering, and the head of the Hummel Laboratory at EPFL's School of Life Sciences. He also is an associate professor of clinical neuroscience at the University of Geneva.
The Einstein Foundation Berlin is a foundation based in Berlin, Germany "that aims to promote science and research of top international caliber in Berlin and to establish the city as a centre of scientific excellence."
Connor Glass is an American physician, entrepreneur, and researcher specializing in neurotechnology and prosthetics. He is the founder and CEO of Phantom Neuro, a company focused on developing advanced control systems for robotic prosthetics and exoskeletons.
