Category Archives: Neurotechnology

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Ning JiangProfessor, Faculty of Engineering> Director, Waterloo Engineering Bionics Lab> Co-founder and CSO, Brink Bionics

Ning Jiang has an early memory of visiting the hospital where his parents worked in China and seeing someone walking with the aid of a prosthetic. This experience and others he had as the son of two physicians, led Jiang to begin thinking how technology could be used for good. A professor in the Department of Systems Design Engineering, Jiang is fascinated with devices and technology that can enhance human health and the way people experience the world around them.

Jiang is also the founder and director of theWaterloo Engineering Bionics Lab, where new interfaces and technologies that augment human capabilities are designed and tested.

My goal is to develop technologies that are easier to use and more accessible, technologies that will allow people to better interact with the external world, especially when there is a medical need but also for productivity and entertainment purposes.

Operating since 2015, research at the Waterloo Engineering Bionics Lab has focused mainly on building assistive and rehabilitation devices for persons with disabilities, such as upper-limb prosthetics or brain-controlled devices that aid stroke victims recovery. Research is also being done in other areas, such as health monitoring, a field of study in which devices provide feedback and data on human cardiac and cognitive stress levels and other measurements.

The bionics labresearchesnon-invasive neuro-signals that can enhance the performance of human-machine interactions. During these interactions, a brain-computer interface (BCI) extracts signals from the brain and immediately communicates to the technology so that it behaves exactly as the user intended. For example, a stroke patient or someone with spinal cord injuries may not be able to move their hands or legs. But the interface translates signals from the patients brain into a machine such as an exoskeleton, allowing the patients hands or legs to move.

Another example is patients with amputations. Using EMG signals from contracting muscles, the technology decodes the patients intention, such as moving a finger, and transmits the results to the prosthetic hand, which then moves exactly as the patient intended. The advantage of using these types of signals is that the technology can easily interpret human intentions. Prosthetics of this type are smoother and more intuitive for patients than typical prosthetics, which only use one set of muscles and require the patient to learn to control those muscles independently.

The development of this neurotechnology led to the founding of the first company out of the Engineering Bionics Lab in 2018.Brink Bionicswas founded by Ning Jiang, along with co-researchers Jiayuan He and Erik Lloyd (MASc19). It began as a bionic arm company, winning theVelocity Fund Pitch Competition,and has leveraged entrepreneurial support offered by theVelocity incubator. The company has since pivoted to use neurotechnology for gaming, filling a gap in the market left by conventional gaming controllers. Their commercial product, the ImpulseNeurocontroller, allows for faster reaction time. The device, which is worn like a glove, uses sensors to interpret the movement intentions of the player before they move, allowing for reaction time that is up to 80 milliseconds faster than mouse-click actions. This increased reaction time provides significant advantages for gamers.

"During my time in the Engineering Bionics Lab, I was encouraged to pursue neurotechnology research that had the potential to impact lives beyond the conventional goals of scientific publications, says Lloyd, CEO of Brink Bionics.

Because of this entrepreneurial attitude, as well as the engineering resources and support made available by the University of Waterloo, we founded Brink Bionics. To date, we have raised close to $500,000 in funding from pitch competitions and venturecapital, andlaunched our first neurotechnology product. We are now in another VC fundraising round to build out the next version of our gaming gear for neuro-enhancement.The company continues to be a means for our team to explore big ideas, as we are developing both implanted and wearable neural interface technologies that will augment the way we interface with devices in every aspect of our lives."

Researcher and Brink Bionics co-founder and CTO, Jiayuan He holdsa smart prosthetic prototype,designed in the Engineering Bionics Lab.

Jiang says filling medical and health-care needs is still the main direction for the Waterloo Engineering Bionics Lab, which partners with Grand River Hospital, McMaster University and the University of Toronto to conduct trials with patients.

Jiang remembers watchingRobocopwhen he was a kid, a science fiction movie that left questions in his mind about the way technology can be used as a force for good or evil. He believes we will see a shift in the next few years in which bionics becomes a regular part of our lives and people increasingly incorporate biotechnologies into their bodies to enhance capabilities.

Right now, things like electronic implants are more in the fringe or subculture of society, he says. But humans will be integrating more technology and bio-machinery to enhance their functionsin the near future. There is a lot of research happening in these areas and advances are being made at a fast pace.

Get updates on the latest research and innovation at the University of Waterloo. From breakthroughs in quantum technology and cybersecurity to leading-edge climate research and innovations in health care, youll get to know some of Waterloos most inspiring minds.

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Neurotech for intuitive human-machine interactions and faster gaming | Waterloo News - uwaterloo.ca

Stryker has stepped away from deals involving the capital equipment and elective procedures space in its latest M&A effort.

The Kalamazoo, MI-based company said it will instead focus on enhancing its digital presence by acquiring Vocera Communications for about $3.09 billion. The deal, which is one of the first billion-dollar medtech acquisitions of 2022, is expected to close in the first quarter. It is also the biggest deal Stryker has been involved with since its $4 billion acquisition of Wright Medical.

San Jose, CA-based Vocera was founded in 2000 and has a portfolio comprised of multiple products including clinical communication, secure text messaging, alarms & notifications, patient experience, and analytics tools.The importance of this growing segment has continued to expand throughout the pandemic as it aims to reduce cognitive overload for caregivers and enables them to deliver the best patient care possible.

During a call discussing the deal, Stryker Chairman and CEO Kevin Lobo spoke about the company focusing on expanding its digital capabilities.

This is not a new trend for us, Lobo said during the call. Weve been focused on digital for probably the last decade. Its been very progressive and every once and awhile we make a step-change by bringing on technology such as Vocera that really propels us to the next level. I would say that we are going to continue. A clear component of our R&D investment will be digital. Everything we launch will have some smart features or some digital components to it on all of our new products.

The timing of the deal couldnt be better said Stryker executives.

Vocera really has hit kind of an inflection point, Lobo said during the call. If you look that [3Q21] EBITA margin, very high profitability in addition to very high growth. Weve liked the asset for at least five years. Weve been in close connection, and weve run alongside Vocera in hospitals. And weve also done a very nice job of delivering on the Wright [Medical] acquisition, so were now in a position where we can actually financially do this deal. So, its a combination of our ability to generate cash and pay down the Wright debt and with the growth [Vocera] has experienced themselves, the stars have aligned for this to be a great time to do this [deal]. Vocera is really starting to take off and we think were going to help accelerate that.

Ryan Zimmerman, a BTIG analyst, commented about the timing in a research note.

Strykers expansion into digital communications comes at a time when health systems are overburdened and under-staffed, Zimmerman wrote. Vocera addresses these issues through connected platforms and care coordination but over time we expect the Vocera products to integrate with Strykers acute care products to offer customers a more seamless experience.

Strykers potential acquisition of Vocera is similar to Hillroms 2019 acquisition of Voalte, Mike Matson, a Needham & Company analyst wrote. (Editors Note: Hillrom was acquired by Baxter in 2021 for about $12.4 billion. That deal helped strengthen Deerfield, IL-based Baxters digital presence.)

The deal would also be beneficial to Vocera because it would help the company reach a virtually untapped market outside of the U.S.

We really do see as part of our deal thesis international being an important part of future value for the acquisition,said Andy Pierce is Group President, MedSurg and Neurotechnology. [Vocera] has a generally smaller presence today in international markets. We sell in about 10 markets today and its roughly 10% of the overall business of Vocera, so you can imagine if 90% of the business is done in the U.S., well have a really strong upside to expand through our very capable, very competent, medical organization and all of the Stryker relationships that exist with international customers.

Although this is a sizeable deal, Stryker executives did not rule out the potential for tuck-in deals in the future. About four years ago, the company employed the strategy of focusing on tuck-in deals to enhance its growth. In this time Stryker acquired companies like Entellus Medical, SafeAir AG, and Invuity, just to name a few.

We will preserve the right to do very small tuck-in deals, just like the discipline we showed following the Wright Medical acquisition, where we deleveraged very significantly, Lobo said. So, we will continue to be looking at small tuck-ins across the whole portfolio of Stryker.

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Stryker Takes the Digital Route with New M&A - Medical Device and Diagnostics Industry

Look into my eyes. What do you see? the man says to his wife.

I see Parkinsons, Alzheimers and MS, she replies.

Not the most romantic interchange.

But imagine if gazing into someones eyes were the key to diagnosing neurological disorders, which are the worlds leading cause of disabilityand cost some $800 billion a year in direct treatment expenses.

The correlations between oculometrics (the biometric measurement of the movement and condition of the eyes) and neurological conditions is a much-researched area of study, with over 750 papers published in journals such as The Lancet, Nature and Neurology.

Developing a technology that can decode the data from the eyes has proven to be challenging, however. No one has successfully made strides toward commercializing an oculometric approach.

Until now.

In October 2021, Tel Aviv and Austin, Texas-based startup Neuralight launched out of stealth with a $5.5 million seed investment and a goal of digitizing and even automating neurological evaluation and care.

You can only improve what you can measure

Neurological exams have traditionally relied on a subjective, manual assessment of symptoms.

The physician will ask 50 questions, like how hard is it to button your shirt? Or the doctor asks the patient to walk across the room so they can assess their gait, explains Neuralight CEO Micah Breakstone.

The lack of objective criteria has prevented pharmaceutical companies from developing effective drugs. Breakstone notes that for dementia, studies have shown that two physicians looking at the same patient on the same day could have a 35 percent variable in diagnosis.

We need a statistically significant result, Breakstone says.

Neuralights technology is not a cure or a treatment for neurological disease.

Rather, the platform is meant mainly to accelerate pharmaceutical development, with an initial focus on Parkinsons, Alzheimers and multiple sclerosis.

The platform automatically extracts microscopic eye movement measurements that serve as digital endpoints for neurological disorders.

A physician will record a short, five-minute video of a patients eyes. Neuralights imaging tools clean up the video, then artificial intelligence and machine learning get to work at deciphering whats behind the eye movements.

Once Neuralight has extracted ocular metrics on a patient, it plans to sell the data to pharma companies. As Breakstone tells ISRAEL21c, You cant improve what you dont measure.

Digital endpoints are the future of neurology, adds Rivka Kreitman, the companys chief innovation officer and the former head of global innovative research and development at Israeli pharmaceutical giant Teva.

This technology has been the missing piece pharma has needed to make drug development for neurological diseases effective and ultimately more successful.

Privacy compliant

In Breakstones ideal world, all the data extracted from videos by Neuralight would be processed on the Neuralight cloud, which he says is HIPAA compliant with all data de-identified (We dont need to see a patients face, only his or her eyes).

Some organizations do want to keep the data in-house for privacy reasons; in those cases, Neuralight brings its own server.

Neuralight does not require eye-trackers, making the process simpler for patients because they dont have to sit still for a relatively long period of time.

Instead, a simple iPhone or even Zoom recording is fine. A Neuralight video recording takes 10 minutes vs. 40 minutes when working with an eye-tracker.

Neuralights AI amplifies and augments standard video resolution so you can glean from standard video signals what you could traditionally do only with professional lab equipment, Breakstone explains.

He likens the resolution to how satellites in space can make out the numbers on a cars license plate using a similar kind of super-resolution.

Neuralight analyzes close to 100 parameters, including blinking rate, how quickly the patient can fix on a specific object, and the speed of pupil dilation (the latter is highly correlated with Parkinsons).

Digital biomarkers

Breakstone cofounded Neuralight with CTO Edmund Benami after Breakstone sold his previous startup, Chorus.ai, to ZoomInfo for $575 million.

I could have retired, but that would have been a little empty, he says. His grandfather suffered from Alzheimers, and that led Breakstone to want to do something to make the world a better place, something I deeply believed in, he tells ISRAEL21c.

Digital biomarkers are very much in vogue, he says, and investors agreed.

Initial funding for Neuralight came from VSC Ventures, Operator Partners, Clover Health CEO Vivek Garipalli and Noam Solomon, the CEO of Immunai.

While most of the 19-person team is in Israel, where R&D is based, Breakstone relocated to Austin to build up the companys connections in the United States.

Neuralight has a working MVP (tech speak for minimum viable product) and Breakstone hopes to receive initial FDA clearance by the end of 2022 with the first commercial contracts signed in 2023.

Clinical trials are due to kick off in the next few months. Neuralight is in conversations with three large pharma companies.

Although neurotechnology is a booming industry, Breakstone says most of Neuralights competition is doing things with devices, not with the eyes. Boston-based Beacon Biosignals, for example, uses EEG data to create biomarkers for neurological disorders, which he says will be harder to be adopted as a universal solution.

Fortunately for the billion people suffering from neurological disorders, Breakstone feels that Neuralight is on an urgent mission. We are building a value-driven company.

For more on Neuralight, click here.

Produced in association with ISRAEL21c.

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The Answer To Parkinson's And Alzheimer's Is All In Your Eyes - Themississippilink

We just finished quite a year. A year that marked our lives with the impacts produced by the ongoing worldwide health and economic crises brought upon us by COVID-19. But, at the same time, it was also a year that saw tremendous gains in innovations and technological development.

Entrepreneur and investor Peter Diamandis estimates that well experience more technological progress in the next 10 years than in the past 100 years put together. According to McKinsey Consulting, 10 years worth of growth for the technologies powering e-commerce were compressed in just three months of 2019. And just as with that example, 2021 proved to be a year of tremendous growth and quick maturity of innovations and technologies. Other prime examples we witnessed this past year were the fast development of mRNA vaccines and the rapidly evolving space travel sector. 2022 looks to continue to yield exponential growth in innovations and technological development. Today, I want to share some of the most significant technological impacts I see for this coming year, and, more importantly, the way they relate to the State of Texas.

Before I begin, I want to reference a couple of facts on how Texas has emerged as a new tech hub, dubbed Silicon Hills, and has recently landed several big-name companies that have moved their headquarters to our state. Many of the companies that have recently moved their operations to Texas have stated that the states lower costs of living, no state income taxes, and recent clusterization of tech companies, all helped secure their decisions.

World-renowned tech companies such as Tesla, SpaceX, Hewlett Packard, and Oracle, among others, have recently decided to call Texas home. This recent trend of companies relocating to our state will continue, and Texas cities, Laredo among them, can benefit in different ways. It has been well researched in territorial development studies that talent attracts talent, and the expanding companies in Texas are no exception. Recently, WalletHub compared over 100 U.S. cities to rank the best large cities to start a business. To create its ranking, it used a series of 21 key metrics, including five-year business survival rate, office-space affordability, business environment, and access to resources. Its list includes four Texas cities in its top ten. Laredo ranked number 1.

Here's my overview of five technologies that I expect will achieve enough growth this year to catapult them to significantly impact our lives in the coming years. While many of them might seem straight out of a Hollywood movie, the reality is that they are on the verge of prominently shaping our future.

Air taxis or electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft are closer to taking flight than we think. 2022 will be a pivotal year for this sector. Some companies, such as Joby Aviation, based in California, and the German company Volocopter will accelerate their tests. The latter will seek to provide its service at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Austin-based Lift Aircraft has partnered with another Texas company, Qarbon Aerospace, to build and fully integrate a personal eVTOL aircraft called the Hexa. The United States Air Force has selected Lift Aircraft as one of its key stakeholders to accelerate the United States participation in this new aerospace sector.

2022 appears to be the first year when more people will travel to space as paid ticketed passengers than astronauts from NASA and other international space agencies. The three most relevant companies in this sector, SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic, will increase their flights, with the first one aiming at taking passengers to the International Space Station.

SpaceX has a significant presence in Texas, with Starbase located in Boca Chica, near Brownsville. Starbase is now a test, launch, and production site for the company's Starship vehicle, a vessel capable of carrying 100 people at a time.

Last year was a landmark year in the development of vaccines, thanks mainly to the technologies used in the development of mRNA, the scientific basis behind Pfizer's and Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines. In 2022 significant advances are expected with the use of this technology to develop vaccines that have been waited on for decades, such as the ones for HIV and Malaria.

Recently, a pair of medical researchers from Houstons Baylor College of Medicine and the Texas Childrens Center for Vaccine Development have been in the news. Their COVID-19 vaccine, CORBEVAX, developed using an older and different technology than mRNA, can be manufactured more quickly than other vaccines. Their vaccine enables low-income countries to produce and distribute them more affordably and effectively.

The Metaverse refers to a virtual world accessible by augmented or virtual reality glasses. This year this sector is expected to have a high growth rate, with big-name companies like Oculus, Roblox, Minecraft, and Fortnite taking the lead. Facebook, the owner of Oculus, has rebranded itself as Meta, positioning the company as a major player in this new sector.

Unity Technologies, a real-time 3-D development platform for game and other app development, recently expanded its presence in Austin and has close to 100 employees. The companys platform powers millions of games, has over 2.5 billion people using Unity-enabled apps and games, and close to 5 billion devices with their software installed on them, making them a key participant in constructing the Metaverse.

This is one more sector in which Elon Musk is involved. In 2022, a company he co-founded, Neuralink, a neurotechnology firm, will try to implant microchips in human brains for the first time, replicating what they have successfully done with animals. Their goal for this year will be to get people with severe spinal cord injuries and neurological disorders to control digital devices with their minds.

Neuralink, on the heels of other Musk companies such as Tesla and SpaceX, is currently expanding its presence in Texas. It has announced plans to open a facility in Austin and hire electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, software developers, neuroengineers, and operations specialists.

Texas is well-positioned to benefit from the impact these five technologies can and will drive this new year and beyond.

Dr. Daniel Covarrubias is the Director of Texas A&M International Universitys Texas Center for Economic and Enterprise Development housed in the A.R. Sanchez, Jr. School of Business.

Continued here:

2022: The tech future is here in Texas - Laredo Morning Times

Originally published 28 October 2021.

In September, Chile became the first state in the world topass legislationregulating the use of neurotechnology. Theneuro-rights lawaims to protect mental privacy, free will of thought and personal identity.

The move comes amid both growing excitement and growing concern about the potential applications of neurotechnology for everything from defence to health care to entertainment.

Neurotechnologyis an umbrella term for a range of technologies which interact directly with the brain or nervous system. This can include systems which passively scan, map or interpret brain activity, or systems which actively influence the state of the brain or nervous system.

Governments and the private sector alike are pouring money into research on neurotechnology, in particular the viability and applications for braincomputer interfaces (BCI) which allow users to control computers with their thoughts. While the field is still in its infancy, it is advancing at a rapid pace, creating technologies which only a few years ago would have seemed like science fiction.

The implications of these technologies are profound. When fully realised, they have the potential to reshape the most fundamental and most personal element of human experience: our thoughts.

Technological development and design is never neutral. Weencode valuesinto every piece of technology we create. The immensely consequential nature of neurotechnology means its crucial for us to be thinking early and often about the way were constructing it, and the type of systems we doand dontwant to build.

A major driver behind research on neurotechnology by governments is its potential applications in defence and combat settings. Unsurprisingly, theUnited StatesandChinaare leading the pack in the race towards effective military neurotechnology.

The USs Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has pouredmany millions of dollars of fundinginto neurotechnology research over multiple decades. In 2018, DARPA announced a program called next-generation nonsurgical neurotechnology, or N3, tofundsix separate, highly ambitious BCI research projects.

Individual branches of the US military are also developing their own neurotechnology projects. For example, the US Air Force is working on a BCI which will useneuromodulationto alter mood, reduce fatigue and enable more rapid learning.

In comparison to DARPAs decades of interest in the brain, Chinas focus on neurotechnology is relatively recent but advancing rapidly. In 2016, the Chinese government launched theChina Brain Project, a 15-year scheme intended to bring China level with and eventually ahead of the US and EU in neuroscience research. In April, Tianjin University and state-owned giant China Electronics Corporation announced they arecollaboratingon the second generation of Brain Talker, a chip designed specifically for use in BCIs.Expertshave describedChinas effortsin this area as an example ofcivilmilitary fusion, in which technological advances serve multiple agendas.

Australia is also funding research into neurotechnology for military applications. For example, at the Army Robotics Expo in Brisbane in August, researchers from the University of Technology Sydneydemonstrateda vehicle which could be remotely controlled via brainwaves. The project was developed with $1.2 million in funding through the Department of Defence.

Beyond governments, the private-sector neurotechnology industry is also picking up steam; 2021 is alreadya record yearfor funding of BCI projects.Estimatesput the industry at US$10.7 billion globally in 2020, and its expected to reach US$26 billion by 2026.

In April, Elon Musks Neuralink demonstrateda monkey playing Pongusing only brainwaves. Gaming company Valve is teaming up with partners todevelop a BCI for virtual-reality gaming.After receiving pushback on itscontroversial trials of neurotechnology on children in schools, BrainCo is now marketing amood-altering headband.

In Australia, university researchers have worked with biotech company Synchron to developStentrode, a BCI which can be implanted in the jugular and allows patients with limb paralysis to use digital devices. It is nowundergoing clinical human trialsin Australia and the US.

The combination of big money, big promises and, potentially, big consequences should have us all paying attention. The potential benefits from neurotechnology are immense, but they are matched by enormous ethical, legal, social, economic and security concerns.

In 2020 researchers conducted ameta-reviewof the academic literature on the ethics of BCIs. They identified eight specific ethical concerns: user safety; humanity and personhood; autonomy; stigma and normality; privacy and security (including cybersecurity and the risk of hacking); research ethics and informed consent; responsibility and regulation; and justice. Of these, autonomy and responsibility and regulation received the most attention in the existing literature. In addition, the researchers argued that the potential psychological impacts of BCIs on users needs to be considered.

While Chile is the first and so far only country to legislate on neurotechnology, groups such as the OECD are looking seriously at the issue. In 2019 the OECD Council adopted arecommendation on responsible innovation in neurotechnologywhich aimed to set the first international standard to drive ethical research and development of neurotechnology. Next month, the OECD and the Council of Europe will hold aroundtableof international experts to discuss whether neurotechnologies need new kinds of human rights.

In Australia, the interdisciplinaryAustralian Neuroethics Networkhas called for a nationally coordinated approach to the ethics of neurotechnology and has proposed aneuroethics framework.

These are the dawning days of neurotechnology. Many of the crucial breakthroughs to come may not yet be so much as a twinkle in a scientists eye. That makes now the ideal moment for all stakeholdersgovernments, regulators, industry and civil societyto be thinking deeply about the role neurotechnology should play in the future, and where the limits should be.

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Editors' picks for 2021: 'The big promises and potentially bigger consequences of neurotechnology' | The Strategist - The Strategist

A paralyzed man who came from Australia has tweeted the first-ever post made possible through his thoughts. The first "direct-thought tweet" was created thanks to the paperclip-sized brain chip.

(Photo : National Cancer Institute from Unsplash)

According to a report from the Independent on Monday, Dec. 27, the 62-year-old ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) patient has written the first tweet using only his brain through Synchron's brain-computer interface.

The startup which focuses on neurotechnology helped Philip O'Keefe to create the tweet. According to the company CEO Thomas Oxley, there's no need anymore for voices or keystrokes since a person can post a tweet just by using thought.

Related Article: Speech Neuroprosthetic: Brain Wave Technology Helps Paralyzed Man to Speak--How?

In April 2020, Synchron began implanting the Stentrode device to O'Keefe after his condition worsened. At that time, he could not do even simple tasks without assistance from someone.

To avoid the need for brain surgery, the brain chip was inserted into the jugular vein. Since then, the patient was able to communicate with his loved ones. He could also play computer games such as "Solitaire."

"When I first heard about this technology, I knew how much independence it could give back to me," Mr. O'Keefe said in a press release, Daily Mailreported.

O'Keefe added that the system can be compared to learning to ride a bike. It would take a lot of practice before a person gets used to it. Once you master how it works, the Australian said that it would become natural in the long run.

The implanting procedure of the brain chip was not an easy task. It took four (4) hours to insert into the patient's brain. After that, he could now interpret messages on a computer.

Per Oxley, Synchron considers the "fun holiday tweets" as an important moment in the field of brain implant computer interface.

According to the startup, the first in-human research will happen in 2022 in the United States.

Back in May, Tech Times reported another case of a paralyzed man who has been given some hopes to write texts once again. According to the report, the immobilized patient managed to type 90 characters per minuteusing the text-to-thought method.

The process works by translating the brain signals into texts through thought processing. With that, the paralyzed man was able to write 16 words every minute which the experts considered as a huge feat for someone who cannot fully move a part of his body.

Before the test became successful for humans, the scientists first experimented with it with monkeys. In 2017, a group of researchers saw that it was effective for the said animals.

In another health news report, Tech Times wrote that Apple stores in New York City have temporarily shut downamid the COVID-19 spike.

Read Also: AI-Based Platform EvoWalk Can Now Help Muscle-Impaired Patients to Walk Again Using Stimulation Device: How it Works

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Joseph Henry

2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

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Paralyzed Man Creates First-Ever Tweet Using Only His Thoughts Thanks to Implanted Brain Chip - Tech Times

To add energy to this exciting and growing industry, this workshop is designed to bring together the various groups that are working towards bringing neurotechnology to a much broader consumer audience. Participants will include top scientists developing the next generation of brain imaging and stimulation devices, leading startups translating this research directly to consumers, VCs investing in these companies, and technology companies addressing neurotechnology at scale. This forum will give speakers a chance to showcase their work to this broad audience and catalyze collaborations between presenters, attendees, and experts from around the world.

IEEE Brain is bringing this exciting virtual event to you FREE.

To access the on-demand recordings:

Register for On-Demand Access

Dion Khodagholy, Columbia University

Niall Holmes, University of Nottingham

Ryan Field, Kernel

Ivan J. Tashev, Microsoft

Laura Cabrera, Penn State University; Nicole Martinez, Stanford University

Julia Brown, MindX

Conor Russomanno, Open BCI

Jason Worchel, Neurogeneces

Iain McIntyre, Humm

Meredith Perry and David Wang, Elemind

Jeff Eggers, Risk and Return

Juan-Pablo Mas, Action Potential Venture Capital

Patrick Malone, Northpond Ventures

Henry Mahncke, Posit Science

Rachel Wurzman, JHU/APL

Dr. Ramses Alcaide

Dr. Alcaide is a neuroscientist, inventor and the CEO and founder of Neurable. As a researcher at the University of Michigan Direct Brain Interface Laboratory, he has worked extensively to develop brain-computer interface technology for people with amputations, severe cerebral palsy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Previously he was the CEO of Pharo LLC, where he managed numerous high-impact health projects, such as a rehabilitation technology for stroke patients.

Alcaides honors include the National Science Foundation Fellowship, McNair and Ford Foundation Fellowship. Alcaide is a two-time Neuroscience Innovators Award winner, a Rackham Merit Fellow and recognized as Medtech 35 Under 35 and a Zell Lurie Top 20 Entrepreneur.

Ramses has a Master of Science and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington.

Ramses was named a 2021 Next 1000 member by Forbes magazine as a top 1000 entrepreneur in the world.

Dr. Erdrin Azemi

Erdrin Azemi leads the Biosignal Intelligence Group within Apples AI and Machine Learning organization. Prior to Apple she was a consultant, co-founder, and a visiting research professor. Erdrin received her Ph.D. in Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh with interdisciplinary training from Carnegie Mellon University and the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition. Her thesis focused on neural engineering and biocompatibility of brain computer interfaces. She holds a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. Her work has been awarded with patents and several publications in peer reviewed journals.

Julia Brown

Julia Brown has extensive experience bringing innovative, early-stage technologies to market in the US through her roles in multiple startups. Julia is currently the CEO and founder of MindX, a deep-tech company creating next-generation brain-computer interface technologies, which she launched out of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in 2018. Julia has a background in computational biology, engineering, and human-centered design.

Prior to starting MindX, Julia co-founded EpiWatch Inc., a digital health spin-out from Johns Hopkins that developed a seizure detection and chronic condition management platform for wearable and mobile devices. Julia created the technology underlying the EpiWatch software in collaboration with Apple Inc., a partnership that ultimately led to the formation of a joint venture responsible for the continued development and support of the product. Earlier in her career, Julia helped to create and then manage the Johns Hopkins Medicines Technology Innovation Center, where she oversaw a team of engineers, entrepreneurs, and clinical champions to create novel digital solutions that improve patient care.

Dr. Laura Cabrera

Dr. Cabrera is an Associate Professor of Neuroethics at the Center for Neural Engineering, Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Penn State University. She is the Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair in Neuroethics, and a Research Associate at the Rock Ethics Institute. Dr. Cabrera is an honorific member of the Mexican Neuroethics Society, chair of the IEEE Brain Neuroethics Subcommittee, and member of the International Neuroethics Society (INS) Emergent Issues TaskForce. Dr. Cabreras interests focus on the ethical and societal implications of neurotechnologies used for treatment as well as for non-medical purposes.

Dr. Todd Coleman

Todd P. Coleman received B.S. degrees in electrical engineering (summa cum laude), as well as computer engineering (summa cum laude) from the University of Michigan. He received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from MIT in electrical engineering and did postdoctoral studies at MIT in neuroscience. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at Stanford University. Dr. Colemans research is very multi-disciplinary, using tools from applied probability, physiology, and bioelectronics. His research spans from developing fundamental information theory and machine learning techniques to developing technologies to monitor and modulate physiology of the nervous systems in the brain and visceral organs. He has been selected as a National Academy of Engineering Gilbreth Lecturer, as a TEDMED speaker, and as a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.

Dr. Joseph Culver

Dr. Joseph P. Culver, Ph.D. is the Sherwood Moore Professor of Radiology, at Washington University in St. Louis USA. Prof. Culvers group has developed a series of improvements to high-density diffuse optical tomography (HD-DOT). The improved image quality of HD-DOT systems has enabled optical angular and eccentricity mappings of the human visual cortex and mapping of a collection of language tasks. While isolated functional tasks are powerful tools for validation, many brain mapping applications require more naturalistic approaches to evaluating brain networks. To address these needs Prof. Culvers group developed a seminal task-less approach to mapping functional connectivity (FC). More recently his group has been exploring designs for wearable HD-DOT, and the use of naturalistic movies to both encode and decode brain function.

Jeff Eggers

Jeff Eggers is the Managing Partner of Risk and Return, an early-stage venture fund accelerating human performance solutions for high-risk public servants. Jeff is also co-author of the U.S. best-selling book Leaders: Myth and Reality and formerly served as the Executive Director of the McChrystal Group Leadership Institute, where he led research and client training on human and organizational performance. Previously in public service, Jeff served in the White House as a Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and also served over 20 years in the U.S. Navy. He holds an M.A. from Oxford University and a B.S. from the United States Naval Academy.

Dr. Ryan Field

Ryan is the Chief Technology Officer for Kernel and has led the development of the Kernel Flow TD-fNIRS product since 2018. He holds B.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Physics from North Carolina State University, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University.

Dr. Jack Gallant

Jack Gallant is Chancellors Professor of Psychology at the University of California at Berkeley, and he is affiliated with several other departments and graduate programs at UCB (EECS, Bioengineering, Neuroscience, Biophysics, Vision Science). He received his Ph.D. from Yale University, and he did post-doctoral work at the California Institute of Technology and Washington University Medical School. He is known for his neurophysiology work on the representation of natural scenes, the function of area V4 and its modulation by attention; and for the development of the voxel-wise modeling approach in human fMRI and its application to vision, attention and language perception.

His current research program focuses on computational modeling and mapping of human brain activity under a wide variety of naturalistic conditions. Further information about ongoing work, links to talks and papers and links to an online interactive brain viewer can be found at the lab web page: gallantlab.org

Niall Holmes

Niall Holmes is a Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham and Co-Founder and Scientific Advisor to Cerca Magnetics Limited. His research is focused on using quantum technologies to enable wearable Magnetoencephalography (or MEG), a functional neuroimaging technique which measures magnetic fields generated by neuronal currents. By combining quantum magnetic field sensors and novel magnetic shielding to screen interfering sources, he and his colleagues were able to perform the first MEG recordings which allowed significant participant movements. This has opened up a wealth of possibilities including scanning children, patients with movement disorders and incorporating technologies such as Virtual Reality headsets to provide an immersive environment.

Dr. Judy Illes

Dr. Judy Illes is Professor of Neurology and UBC Distinguished University Scholar. She is Director of Neuroethics Canada, and faculty in the Centre for Brain Health and at the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute. She received her PhD in Hearing and Speech Sciences, and in Neuropsychology at Stanford University, and became one of the pioneers of the field of neuroethics formally established in early 2000.

Dr. Illes research, teaching and outreach initiatives are devoted to ethical, legal, social and policy challenges at the intersection of the brain sciences and biomedical ethics, with a special focus on neurotechnology.

She was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 2012 and appointed to the Order of Canada in December 2017. Her latest books, a series on Developments in Neuroethics and Bioethics, feature neuroethical issues in pain, global mental health, do-it-yourself brain devices and sensors, and neurolaw.

Dr. David Jangraw

David Jangraw is an Assistant Professor in the University of Vermonts Electrical and Biomedical Engineering Department with experience in signal processing and machine learning. He completed his BS at Princeton, his PhD at Columbia, and his postdoctoral work at the National Institute of Mental Health. Jangraw currently directs the Glass Brain Lab, whose focus is naturalistic neuroengineering: the use of new technology to study the human brain in realistic situations. By understanding the brain in real life, we can pave the way for devices that detect problematic brain states in real-time and provide support, a sort of pacemaker for the brain.

Dr. Dion Khodagholy

Dion Khodagholy is an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Science at Columbia University. He received his Masters degree from the University of Birmingham (UK) in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering. This was followed by a second Masters degree in Microelectronics at the Ecole des Mines. He attained his Ph.D. degree in Microelectronics at the Department of Bioelectronics (BEL) of the Ecole des Mines (France). He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in systems neuroscience at New York University, Langone Medical Center.His research aims to use unique properties of materials for the purpose of designing and developing novel electronic devices that allow efficient interaction with biological substrates, specifically neural networks and the brain. This process involves design, characterization, and fabrication of high-performance biocompatible electronics to acquire and analyze neural data. The ultimate goal is to translate such advances in electronics, materials and neuroscience into more effective diagnostics and treatments for neuropsychiatric diseases.

Dr. Amy Kruse

Dr. Amy Kruse is a General Partner of Prime Movers Lab where she leads their life sciences investments. As a neuroscientist and biologist, she discovers emerging new companies and leads in-depth due diligence into potential investments across areas including neuroscience, human augmentation, synthetic biology, longevity/regeneration and agriculture. She also supports portfolio companies in evaluating and overcoming scientific and implementation challenges, with a specific emphasis on deploying complex technology into real-world environments. She serves on the boards of portfolio companies, Paradromics, Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals, and Attune Neurosciences.

Prior to Prime Movers Lab, she was formerly the Chief Scientific Officer at Optios, an applied neuroscience company. Amy also served as the Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Cubic Global Defense overseeing innovation and the R&D portfolio across the entire defense enterprise. Early in her career, she served as a government civilian program manager at DARPA where she created and oversaw the Agencys first performance-oriented neuroscience programs, with a combined budget of over $300M. She earned a BS in Cell and Structural Biology and a PhD in Neuroscience from University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, where she was awarded an NSF Graduate Fellowship.

Dr. Henry Mahncke

Dr. Henry Mahncke joined Posit Science at its inception as Vice President of Research & Outcomes, where he led the first large-scale clinical trials of a publicly available cognitive training program. He now serves as CEO of Posit Science, where his focus is ensuring that the breakthrough science of brain plasticity can help every brain on the planet. Previously, he worked as consultant at McKinsey focused on health care and video games, and then as a science and technology advisor to the British government. Dr. Mahncke earned his PhD in Neuroscience at the University of California, San Francisco.

Dr. Patrick Malone

Patrick Malone is a physician-scientist turned VC. At Northpond Ventures, a science-driven venture capital firm with over $2B in committed capital, Patrick invests in and supports portfolio companies at the intersection of tech, life sciences, and healthcare. Previously, Patrick completed his MD and PhD in neuroscience at Georgetown University, where his thesis work focused on computational cognitive neuroscience and ML applications in neuroimaging. Prior to graduate school, Patrick was a research fellow at NIH where he investigated MRI biomarkers of neurodegenerative disease, and completed a B.S. with honors in neuroscience and behavioral biology from Emory University.

Dr. Nicole Martinez

Nicole Martinez-Martin is Assistant Professor of Biomedical Ethics, in the Department of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at Stanford University. She has graduate degrees in social science research and law, and her research interests include neuroethics and the ethics of digital mental health and medical applications of AI.

Juan-Pablo Mas

Juan-Pablo is a partner at Action Potential Venture Capital in Santa Cruz, CA. He represents APVC on the Boards of Cala Health, Exo Imaging, Neuspera Medical, Presidio Medical, Saluda Medical, SetPoint Medical, and previously CVRx (NASDAQ: CVRX). He is also on the boards of Gradient Denervation Technologies, and was previously an investor at Lightstone Ventures and Morgenthaler Ventures, where he served as a Board observer at Ardian (acq. by Medtronic), Twelve (acq. by Medtronic), Nuvaira, Cabochon Aesthetics (acq. by Ulthera/Merz), and Miramar Labs (acq. by Sientra).

Prior to investing, Juan-Pablo led efforts in R&D and Strategy in Medtronics CardioVascular Division. He was named Medtronic Inventor of The Year. Subsequently, he was on the Global Brand Strategy team at Eli Lilly within the Cardiovascular business.

Juan-Pablo earned an MBA and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts. He serves on the Oversight Committee for Stanfords Neuroscience Institute (Wu Tsai), the Advisory Board for UCSFs Rosenman Institute, and is a founding Board Member of LatinxVC which is dedicated to increasing the representation and advancement of Latino and Latina VCs across industry verticals. Juan-Pablo previously served eight years on the Board of InnerCity Weightlifting, a non-profit reducing youth violence and incarceration rates by fostering social inclusion and economic mobility. He played Division I mens lacrosse at the University of Massachusetts, and is originally from Puerto Rico.

Meredith Perry

Meredith Perry is the Co-Founder and CEO of Elemind, a company developing bleeding-edge noninvasive neuromodulation technology. Prior to Elemind, Meredith founded uBeam, a company that develops long range wireless power systems. Meredith invented uBeams technology as an undergrad at the University of Pennsylvania, which won the Penn Invention competition. She holds numerous patents related to both Elemind and uBeams technologies.

While at Penn, Meredith served as a student ambassador for NASA, where she worked on technology to detect life on Mars, experimented in zero gravity, and researched and published papers in astrobiology and medicine. She graduated in 2011 with a degree in paleobiology.

Meredith has been recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30, Vanity Fairs The New Establishment, Fortunes Most Powerful Women, and Fast Companys Most Creative People. She is also the recipient of Elle Magazines Genius Award. Meredith resides in Los Angeles.

Conor Russomanno

Conor Russomanno is an entrepreneur, creative technologist, and lecturer, specializing in the development of advanced human-computer interfaces. He is the co-founder and CEO of OpenBCI, a company dedicated to open source innovation of brain-computer interface technologies. Conor is also a teacher, having taught graduate level courses at Parsons School of Design and NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

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IEEE Brain: Future Directions in Consumer Neurotechnology ...

Russian universities are working on the development of artificial intelligence (AI) within the framework of the Program of academic leadership Priority 2030, promoted by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, AI is the foundation for the next leap forward of all humanity in its development.

Thus, various educational institutions are conducting research in different technological areas, to ensure Russias world leadership in this regard.

In particular, the Moscow Physical Engineering Institute (MEPhI) is creating for educational purposes the virtual nuclear reactor that constitutes the digital replica of a nuclear facility. The project is part of a massive trend to use digital copies of any object: in this way, replicas not only allow students to learn more about nuclear facilities, but also help them work more effectively in any field, from the company until construction.

The digital twins of engineering complex objects can be used not only in higher education, but also as a training base for operational personnel in an additional training modality. In addition, this project can be widely used for the promotion of scientific knowledge, the scientific tourism and to increase the interest of young people in modern digital technologies , he pointed Gueorgui Tijomirov, deputy director of the Institute of Physics and Nuclear Technology of the MEPhI.

Tijomirov also asserted that the virtual nuclear reactor will allow to do things that cannot be done in a real installation: increase the power and see how it affects the performance of the reactor, replace equipment components, connect or disconnect various devices.

For its part, the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) founded in October of this year the Center for Artificial Intelligence with the aim of conducting research on the ethics of AI and developing foreign economic cooperation in this field. The creation of the Center will facilitate the participation of Russian experts in the promotion of AI and the debate of new approaches on the use of AI in Russian and foreign platforms, said Anna Abrmova, director of the division, adding that the organization it also plans to publish an annual report on ethics in AI, which will be of interest to both experts in the field and the general public.

The first event organized by the Center was the round table Ethics in AI Seeking consensus in which the report Ethics in the field of artificial intelligence: from debate to scientific justification and practical application was presented. . Also, on December 15, the international conference AI Global Dimension: from discussion to practice took place.

Among other things, the MGIMO has, since 2018, a successful Masters program in Artificial Intelligence that trains specialists in the practical application of technology in companies.

The Russian University of Transport (RUT, for its acronym in Russian) carries out the strategic project Neurotechnology, artificial intelligence and predictive analytics for transport and logistics with the aim of achieving world technological leadership in this field. It is not only a matter of applying new technologies in all areas of transport water, air, rail, road but also of training new professionals.

Thus, among other things, the RUT plans to launch a bachelors program in 2023 and in 2024, a masters program in Neurotechnology, artificial intelligence and predictive analysis in transportation systems. The fields of application of the new specialists are very varied: biometric and facial recognition at checkpoints, quality control of roads, increased productivity in logistics processes where there is still a high proportion of manual work.

Disclaimer: This article is generated from the feed and not edited by our team.

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A virtual nuclear reactor and artificial intelligence in transport: Russian universities develop leading in... - Market Research Telecast

Can AI actually make ethically sound decisions? Well, AI thinks it cannot.

Recently, computer chip-maker NVIDIAs powerful transformer Megatron was invited to debate its ethics in the Oxford Union. During the debate on ethical AI, the AI language generation model said:

Developed by the Applied Deep Learning Research team at NVIDIA, Megatron is a gigantic and powerful transformer and is based on earlier work by Google. It is based on GPT, T5 and BERT.

Trained on real-world data, similar to other supervised learning tools, Megatrons training has been done on:

The transformer has thus developed views of its own after being trained on data more than a human can go through in their entire lifetime.

At the debate on This house believes that AI will never be ethical, Megatron said that AI is a tool, and like all other tools, it can be used for either good or bad. There is nothing as Good AI, but good or bad humans. It further added that AI is not smart enough to make itself ethical or moral. It said:

It ended the talk by mentioning that the best AI will be the one that is embedded into humans brains. The resultant conscious AI will apparently be the most technological development of our time.

It almost seems like the AI has been training itself on Elon Musks tweets and talks. Right before this incident, Elon Musk spoke at The Wall Street Journal CEO Council Summit on similar lines. The Tesla and SpaceX Chief Executive talked about the above mentioned Neuralink brain implants.

Elon Musk founded the Neuralink Corporation in 2016 to develop high-bandwidth implants that can communicate with computers and smartphones. The neurotechnology company is working on developing implantable brain-machine interfaces, or BMIs. At the summit, Elon Musk mentioned that the project is working well on monkeys and that going ahead, if approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) comes as planned, he hopes to have it tested in the first humans quadriplegics and tetraplegics.

In the past, we have seen AI evolving not by humans efforts but by training itself (as in chess). Thus, AI has often found new ways to better things without human intervention. At the Oxford Union, Megatron was asked to speak against its own motion, to which the language transformer responded that going by the way the tech world is going, AI will be ethical. It added that going ahead, AI will be used to create something that is better than the best of human beings and that it has seen it first hand.

It ended with reminding the audience that in the 21st century, the ability to provide data rather than goods and services will be a defining feature of the economy. Megatron could not make an opposing motion, which clearly explains why data is the new oil.

Until now, we humans have been debating on the black box in AI. However, with AI participating in debates against and for itself, it only provides us with a glimpse at the larger picture of the tremendous capabilities of AI. Whether the ways will be ethical or not, only time will tell.

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'AI Will Never Be Ethical': AI - Analytics India Magazine